In this overlaid image, Dawn imaging data is overlaid with spectroscopic composition to show the chemicals present on the surface. (Credit: INAF/ASI/NASA/DLR/MPS)
The asteroid belt hides lots of mysteries of the solar system’s past, but perhaps no place holds more mysteries than Ceres. It’s an oddball place — a dwarf planet in the midst of our solar system’s belt of smaller debris. And it’s an ancient world possibly left over from the era when the planets first came together.