NASA Reveals Stunning New Photos Of Dwarf Planet Ceres

Forbes ^ | 06/30/18 | Bill Retherford ,

[null and void]

as you say...

[spokeshave2]

I thought that “dwarf” was politically incorrect these days? Perhaps “little planet?”

The term is "Gravitationally Challenged"

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Red Badger. Ping to APoD members.

[henkster]

You’re right. They hype this stuff. Don’t get me wrong; it’s cool that we go check out the solar system and I support it completely. Exploring Ceres increases our knowledge of space and the technology to explore it. But it is what it is. A drab lifeless piece of rock.

[Ozark Tom]

The mixture of ingredients present is “necessary but insufficient”, also lacking the organizational theme present in all life.

[JimRed]

In the third of the four photos, all the impact craters appear to be on one side of that ridge line. What’s up with that?

[ETL]

Probably the result of some sort of geologic activity that covered up the craters there.

[JimRed]

On Earth that would be the effects of wind, water or both. Where high mountains block moisture and it only rains/snows on one side, for example. But does that li’l thing even have an atmosphere?

[JimRed]

I thought that “dwarf” was politically incorrect these days?

You might be thinking of "midget".

[Kickass Conservative]

Little Planet, Big World.

Change the Name from Ceres to Roloff.

[ETL]

Could be ejecta material from an impact. Or lava flow from volcanic activity.

[fwdude]

A weird indy movie “The American Astronaut” was set on a bar on Ceres. Very strange, artsy movie on Hulu.

[rawcatslyentist]

Lifeless? Maybe not, judging by the luminosity in one crater it appears to be inhabited.

[mlo]

"It’s an asteroid, but because it’s big, they call it a planet. Sorry, but you can’t do that. We’ve been taught that there are 8 planets, and that Pluto is not a planet. You can’t add one to the list without telling us."

They called it a "dwarf planet", which is also the categorization that includes Pluto.