← World catalog DWARF PLANET / 08
Ceres
Asteroid belt
An ice-rich dwarf planet with brines, salts, organics, and evidence of geologically recent cryovolcanic activity.
BEvidence classStrong inference from multiple independent measurements
- Mean radius
- 469.7 km
- Surface gravity
- 0.27 m/s²
- Representative temperature
- about −105 °C mean surface
- Surface pressure
- Transient exosphere
Scientific assessment
Dawn observations indicate long-lived brine reservoirs and recent material transfer at Occator and other sites.
- Liquid-water evidence
- Brines and ice-rich crust; no confirmed global ocean
- Principal constraint
- Small energy budget and discontinuous liquid reservoirs
- Principal mission context
- NASA Dawn archive
Comparative evidence matrix
A transparent research-priority index, not a probability of life. It combines solvent evidence, usable energy, chemistry, environmental stability, evidence maturity, and sampling access.