Ceres (Dwarf planet)
939.4 km (583.7 mi)
Effective mean diameter
The biggest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Diameter: 939 km, the largest object in the asteroid belt.
Published
How big is that?
939.4 km is 106 times Mount Everest and 27% of the Moon.
Ceres is the 19th smallest of the 39 Cosmic Scale objects, and the 21st largest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Ceres in orange beside the Cosmic Scale objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Ceres |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Canyon (Earth)Arizona's canyon, seen from above and measured along the Colorado River. | 446 km long | 47% of the size |
| Vesta (Asteroid)One of the biggest asteroids, with a giant crater near its south pole. | 522.77 km across | 56% of the size |
| Ceres (Dwarf planet) | 939.4 km across | – |
| Charon (Moon of Pluto)Pluto's largest moon, half its size. | 1,214 km across | 1.3× bigger |
| Pluto (Dwarf planet)The dwarf planet at the edge of the classical Solar System, with a heart-shaped plain. | 2,376 km across | 2.5× bigger |
In other units
| Metres | 939,400 |
|---|---|
| Kilometres | 939.4 |
| Feet | 3,082,000 |
| Yards | 1,027,000 |
| Miles | 583.7 |
How it's measured
Effective mean diameter. JPL Small-Body Database.
This body is lumpy rather than round, so its size is given as an effective diameter: the width of a sphere with the same volume.
Sources
- ssd.jpl.nasa.gov: 1 Ceres: diameter 939.4 +/- 0.2 km.
- ssd-api.jpl.nasa.gov (supporting): Same record from the SBDB API.
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Ceres is one of the objects in Cosmic Scale, a daily size comparison game: you stretch a shape to the size you think is right beside one you know.