Dwarf Planet Ceres: Biggest in the Asteroid Belt (Infographic)

The Dawn space probe is getting humanity's best view yet of the tiny survivor from the solar system's earliest days. (Image credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

The dwarf planet Ceres is 590 miles (950 kilometers) in diameter, or about the size of the state of Texas. Ceres is thought to be a surviving protoplanet, or planetary embryo, formed 4.57 billion years ago in the earliest days of our solar system.

Karl Tate

Karl's association with SPACE.com goes back to 2000, when he was hired to produce interactive Flash graphics. Starting in 2010, Karl has been TechMediaNetwork's infographics specialist across all editorial properties. Before joining SPACE.com, Karl spent 11 years at the New York headquarters of The Associated Press, creating news graphics for use around the world in newspapers and on the web. He has a degree in graphic design from Louisiana State University. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Karl on Google+.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.