Neo Earth

Showing posts with label Ceres. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ceres. Show all posts

Monday, May 2, 2011


CERES PRESENTATION DONE ON THURSDAY 21 APRIL


















(Sorry about the size of the picture I couldn't figure out how to make it smaller.)


Discovery:


Ceres was the first thing to be discovered in the asteroid belt. Sicilian astronomer Father Giuseppe Piazzi first saw this dwarf planet in 1801. When more objects were discovered in the same area they were called asteroids or minor planets. Ceres was first called a planet but was then renamed as an asteroid. In recognition of its planet like aspects it was designated a dwarf planet in 2006 along with Pluto and Eris.


(Ceres' Symbol above)


Overview:


Ceres is described by scientist as the embryonic planet. Gravitational perturbations from Jupiter eons ago prevented it from becoming a normal sized planet. Ceres ended up among the debris left over from planetary formation in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The Hubble Space Telescope observed the planet and it demonstrated and orbit that suggests it has a nearly round body. Its diameter is larger at the equator than at the poles. This planet is around the size of Texas. Pluto is 24 times bigger than Ceres.


Composition:


Ceres does not have the same composition as the rest of its neighbors. It I made up of three layers the first being its dusty outer layer than the water ice inner layer and finally the stone core. Astronomers believe that there is water within Ceres because the density of the planet is less than that of the Earth’s crust. Another reason is that the surface of Ceres shows evidence of water bearing minerals.




Ceres' composition


The numbers:



Orbit size


Metric: 413,690,250 km


Scientific Notation: 4.1369025 x 108 km (2.7653485 x 100 A.U.)


Perihelion (closest)


Metric: 380,951,528 km


Scientific Notation: 3.80952 x 108 km (2.547 x 100 A.U.)


Aphelion (farthest)


Metric: 446,428,973 km


Scientific Notation: 4.46429 x 108 km (2.984 x 100 A.U.)


Mass


Metric: 947,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg


Scientific Notation: 9.47 x 1020 kg


Density


Metric: 2.09 g/cm3


Surface area


Metric: 2,849,631 km2


Scientific Notation: 2.8496 x 106 km2


Length of Day


0.378 Earth days


9.07417 hours


Length of Year


4.6 Earth years


Orbit Eccentricity(the shape of the orbit)


0.079138251


Orbit inclination (what its angle is from our perspective)


10.59


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