Color View of Ceres

This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope color image of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.
September 7, 2005
CreditNASA/ESA/J. Parker (Southwest Research Institute), P. Thomas (Cornell University), L. McFadden (University of Maryland, College Park), and M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI)
PIA NumberPIA10235
Language
  • english

This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope color image of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.

Astronomers enhanced the sharpness in these Advanced Camera for Surveys images to bring out features on Ceres' surface, including brighter and darker regions that could be asteroid impact features. The observations were made in visible and ultraviolet light between December 2003 and January 2004.

The colors represent the differences between relatively red and blue regions. These differences may simply be due to variation on the surface among different types of material.