Ceres — dwarf planet, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.
The largest object in the asteroid belt and the first asteroid ever discovered. Bright salt deposits glitter inside Occator crater — the residue of a buried briny ocean.
Cosmoscope puts Ceres at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Ceres is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Ceres where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.