The Largest Asteroids in the Solar System: Ceres and Pallas

Of the many asteroids, there are several asteroids that are quite large. Here are some examples of asteroids, including:

Ceres

The largest asteroid is called Ceres. Ceres is a dwarf planet located in the Asteroid Belt. The discovery of Ceres occurred on January 1, 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi. At its initial discovery, Ceres was considered a planet, but half a century later and for the next 150 years, Ceres was classified as an asteroid.

On August 24, 2006, the IAU decided to change Ceres’ status to a “dwarf planet”. The mass of Ceres is about 9.45 ± 0.04 × 1020 kg. Its diameter is about 950 km. Ceres is the largest celestial body in the main asteroid belt.

Pallas

Apart from that, there is also an asteroid named Pallas, which has a diameter of about 500 km. Pallas is a large asteroid located in the asteroid belt of the solar system and the 2nd asteroid discovered. This asteroid was discovered and named by the astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthaus Olbers on March 28, 1802.

Those are some of the characteristics of asteroids along with examples. For those of you who like the world of astronomy, this is of course a must-know to deepen your knowledge about the solar system and the world of outer space.