# How far away is Ceres right now? > Ceres's distance from Earth, live. The largest body in the asteroid belt, why it is a dwarf planet, what Dawn found and its salty bright spots. HTML: https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/planets/ceres Numbers as of 2026-10-31 03:41 UTC. Live ones keep changing on the HTML page. Right now Ceres is about 330 million kilometres from Earth, and the gap changes every second. A radio message, moving at the speed of light, needs 18 minutes to cross it. Ceres circles the Sun in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. Its distance from us swings between 237 million and 593 million kilometres. It is the largest body in the belt, and a dwarf planet. The next close approach is on 9 January 2027. - Time until Ceres's next close approach to Earth: 70 d 09 h 34 m 48 s - Length of one turn of Ceres (sidereal day): 9 h 04 m 27 s - Length of a year on Ceres: 4.60 years - Average temperature at Ceres's equator over a year: -113 °C ## The largest body in the asteroid belt What is Ceres? Between Mars and Jupiter lies the asteroid belt, a wide ring of rocky bodies left over from when the planets formed. Ceres is the giant among them, and the only one counted as a dwarf planet. Even so, it is small. Earth is about 13 times as wide, and about 2,300 worlds the size of Ceres would fit inside it. Our Moon is about 3.6 times as wide. Pluto is about 14 times as heavy. Ceres is a world of rock, ice and salt. NASA says water could make up as much as a quarter of it, mostly as ice under a dusty, salty crust. It has no moons and no rings. It circles the Sun at about 2.8 times Earth's distance. It is the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system. ## A planet, an asteroid, a dwarf planet Three names in two centuries Giuseppe Piazzi found Ceres on 1 January 1801 and called it a planet. Then more small worlds turned up in the same region. In time they were all called asteroids, and by the 1860s Ceres was counted as one of them. In August 2006 the International Astronomical Union set out what a planet is. It goes round the Sun. Its own gravity has pulled it into a nearly round shape. And it has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. Ceres is round, and it circles the Sun. But it shares its lane with the rest of the belt, so it fails the third test. The IAU made it a dwarf planet, together with Pluto. Today NASA lists Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake and Eris as the dwarf planets. Some planetary scientists disagree with the IAU. They argue that any round world smaller than a star is a planet, wherever it orbits. By that measure Ceres is a planet again. ## Why the distance keeps changing The next close approach Earth and Ceres both circle the Sun, like runners on a track. Earth has the inside lane and runs faster. Ceres needs about 4.6 Earth years for one lap. So Earth catches up with Ceres once every about 1.3 years. Each time, Earth passes between the Sun and Ceres, and the two come closest. Then Earth pulls ahead and swings round to the far side of the Sun, and the gap widens. A message then takes longer to cross. Ceres's path is a slightly oval one, tilted against Earth's. So some meetings are much closer than others. The best come when Ceres is near the part of its orbit closest to the Sun. The clock on this page counts down to the next close approach, on 9 January 2027. ## A hello that takes minutes Right now Radio waves are a kind of light, and nothing travels faster. Even so, a message to Ceres takes 18 minutes to arrive today. NASA's Dawn spacecraft lived with that wait for years. Dawn launched in September 2007. Its ion engines pushed it gently but for years on end. It circled the asteroid Vesta first, then moved on. In March 2015 it went into orbit around Ceres. It was the first spacecraft to orbit a dwarf planet, four months before New Horizons flew past Pluto. Dawn studied Ceres until 2018. On 1 November 2018 it fell silent, after running out of the fuel that kept its antenna pointed at Earth. It is still in orbit around Ceres, NASA says, and will stay there for decades. ## The bright spots Occator crater As Dawn came closer in early 2015, bright points shone out of the dark surface of Ceres. They lay in a crater now called Occator, 92 kilometres across. Up close, the brightest patch turned out to be salt. Scientists studying Dawn's spectra found mostly sodium carbonate, a kind of soda. It is the most concentrated carbonate known anywhere beyond Earth, on that scale. The team thinks it is what was left when salty water, or brine, rose from below and dried out at the surface. NASA says several places on Ceres show signs of recent activity. Salt lowers the freezing point of water, so pockets of brine may have stayed liquid underground long after Ceres should have frozen. That makes Ceres one of the places in the solar system where scientists would like to search for signs of life. ## A quick day, a long year, and the cold Day and year Ceres turns fast. One full turn takes 9 h 04 m 27 s, one of the shortest days in the solar system. A day from one sunrise to the next is only seconds longer. The spin makes it bulge a little at the equator. Its year is long: about 4.6 Earth years. That is roughly 4,400 of its own days. Its axis is barely tilted, NASA says. So Ceres has hardly any seasons. The Sun stays over its equator all year. It is cold there. Averaged over a year, the ground at the equator is about -113 °C, against 15 °C on Earth. That is a model's estimate, and the daytime ground is warmer. There is almost no air to hold the heat, only a very thin trace of water vapour. Near the poles, some craters never see the Sun at all. In those cold traps, water ice may last for a very long time. ## FAQ ### How far away is Ceres right now? About 330 million kilometres, from the centre of Earth to the centre of Ceres. The number on this page is live. It swings between 237 million and 593 million kilometres. ### Is Ceres a planet or an asteroid? Both names have been used. Ceres was called a planet when it was found in 1801, then an asteroid. Since 2006 the International Astronomical Union has called it a dwarf planet: round and orbiting the Sun, but sharing its lane with the asteroid belt. ### How big is Ceres? It is 964 kilometres across at the equator, a little less from pole to pole. Earth is about 13 times as wide. It is the largest body in the asteroid belt. ### What are the bright spots on Ceres? Salt. The brightest are in Occator crater, and they are mostly sodium carbonate. They are probably left behind by salty water that reached the surface and dried out. ### How long does it take Ceres to orbit the Sun? A year on Ceres, one trip round the Sun, lasts about 4.6 Earth years. It holds roughly 4,400 of its own short days. ### How long is a day on Ceres? 9 h 04 m 27 s for one turn, and only seconds longer from one sunrise to the next. That is one of the shortest days in the solar system. ## Related - [Planets](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/planets.md) - [Pluto](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/planets/pluto.md) - [Mars](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/planets/mars.md) Ceres was a planet, then an asteroid, then a dwarf planet, and it never changed at all. What else do we see differently once we know it better? ## Sources - Average surface temperature of Earth (Measured, with error): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Average temperature at Ceres's equator over a year (Estimated): [Science (AAAS): Cryovolcanism on Ceres (Ruesch et al., Science 353, aaf4286, 2016)](https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf4286); [UCLA (C. T. Russell): Cryovolcanism on Ceres (Ruesch et al. 2016), author copy](https://faculty.epss.ucla.edu/~ctrussell/russell_bib.html/papers/cryovolcanism.pdf); [Copernicus / EGU: Dwarf Planet Ceres: Preliminary Surface Temperatures from Dawn (Tosi et al., EGU General Assembly 2015, abstract)](https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2015/EGU2015-11960.pdf) - Average time between Ceres's close approaches to Earth (synodic period) (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Ceres's average distance from the Sun (Measured): [NASA JPL Solar System Dynamics: JPL Small-Body Database API: 1 Ceres (A801 AA), orbit and physical parameters](https://ssd-api.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.api?sstr=1&phys-par=1&full-prec=1) - Ceres's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, Ceres geocentric vectors (geometric)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='1%3B'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2026-10-28'&STOP_TIME='2026-10-29'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT') - Earth's average distance from the Sun in kilometres (Measured): [NASA: Earth: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/facts/) - Earth's diameter at the equator (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Earth Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html) - Equatorial diameter of Ceres (Measured): [Nature: A partially differentiated interior for (1) Ceres deduced from its gravity field and shape (Park et al., Nature 537, 515–517, 2016)](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18955) - Largest possible distance between Earth and Ceres (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, Ceres geocentric vectors (geometric), daily, 2075–2100 (last of eight calls)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='1%3B'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2075-01-01'&STOP_TIME='2100-01-01'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT'&CSV_FORMAT='YES') - Length of a year on Ceres (Measured): [NASA Science: Ceres: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/ceres/facts/) - Length of one turn of Ceres (sidereal day) (Measured): [NASA Science: Ceres: Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/dwarf-planets/ceres/facts/) - Mass of Ceres (Measured): [NIST: CODATA value: Newtonian constant of gravitation](https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?bg); [NASA NSSDCA: Asteroid Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/asteroidfact.html) - Mass of Pluto (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Pluto Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/plutofact.html) - Smallest possible distance between Earth and Ceres (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, Ceres geocentric vectors (geometric), daily, 1900–1925 (first of eight calls)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='1%3B'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='1900-01-01'&STOP_TIME='1925-01-01'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT'&CSV_FORMAT='YES') - Speed of light in a vacuum (Measured): [BIPM: SI defining constants](https://www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units/si-defining-constants) - The Moon's mean diameter (Measured): [NASA NSSDCA: Moon Fact Sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html) - Time until Ceres's next close approach to Earth (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, Ceres geocentric vectors (geometric), one-minute steps around 2027-01-09](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='1%3B'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2027-01-09%2011%3A30'&STOP_TIME='2027-01-09%2014%3A30'&STEP_SIZE='1m'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT'&CSV_FORMAT='YES'); [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, Ceres geocentric vectors (geometric), daily, 2026-10-28 to 2041-01-01](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='1%3B'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2026-10-28'&STOP_TIME='2041-01-01'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT'&CSV_FORMAT='YES') - Typical cruising speed of a long-haul airliner (Estimated): [EUROCONTROL: Aircraft Performance Database: B789 (Boeing 787-9)](https://contentzone.eurocontrol.int/aircraftperformance/details.aspx?ICAO=B789); [EUROCONTROL: Aircraft Performance Database: A388 (Airbus A380-800)](https://contentzone.eurocontrol.int/aircraftperformance/details.aspx?ICAO=A388) - Width of Occator crater on Ceres (Measured, with error): [NASA: Occator Crater and Ceres' Brightest Spots (PIA20350)](https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/occator-crater-and-ceres-brightest-spots/)