By far, Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, which girdles the ... within the plumes of water erupting from Enceladus, drawing some connection between the two bodies.

To help explain, I made this handy (simplified) drawing: Dawn launched from ... This month, Dawn finally caught up with Ceres, which lies in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars.

But first a bit of history: Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered, by Giuseppe Piazzi on the first night of the 19th century, Jan. 1, 1801. Ironically it was initially classified as a ...

Rocket scientists who have plotted a course for a human mission to the largest known asteroid, Ceres, say that such a voyage may not be much more challenging than sending people to Mars ...

drawing more material in. As it happened, Ceres was well on its way to becoming a planet before it ran out of material to feed on. Bigger than an asteroid, but smaller than a planet, scientists ...