Stunning Views of Dwarf Planet Ceres

(gentle music)

[Narrator] In 2007, NASA sent the Dawn probe

to go explore Ceres and Vesta,

the biggest rocks in the asteroid belt.

Right now the spacecraft is focusing in on Ceres,

which is about 40% the size of Pluto.

Dawn is getting a great look at the asteroids topology.

Those are dust covered craters in blue,

and towering mountain peaks in red,

and those features are getting some new names too.

One of Ceres' most mysterious craters

is now named Occator.

It shows off two bright spots that could be anything

from a salt deposit, to ice, to a volcano.

There's another bright spot,

which used to just be called Spot 1,

now it goes by Haulani for the Hawaiian plant goddess.

A number of even bigger craters are bring named

for other harvest deities.

Humans may never get to farm on Ceres,

but the astronomical namers sure want to.

After all, Ceres was named

for the Roman goddess of agriculture.