--- description: NASA's Dawn spacecraft captured it in a new image sent back from the dwarf planet title: See the Massive Mountain on Dwarf Planet Ceres image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt055dd91983ed8e0c/698860bf428a9e3003ccec96/ceres-dawn-spacecraft-mountain.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See the Massive Mountain on Dwarf Planet Ceres  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Aug 25, 2015 3:09 PM CUT  NASA's Dawn spacecraft spotted this tall, conical mountain on Ceres on Aug. 19, 2015. NASA's Dawn spacecraft spotted this tall, conical mountain on Ceres on Aug. 19, 2015.NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA  by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large Aug 25, 2015 3:09 PM CUT Very small worlds can do very big things—providing you’re willing to grade on a curve. Take the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt, which is currently being orbited by the Dawn spacecraft. Ceres is just 591 miles (952 km) across—or 73% of the size of Texas—with only 3% of Earth’s gravity. If you weigh 150 lbs. here, you’d weigh 4.5 lbs. there. But Ceres has a mountain—and it’s a whopper, as evidenced by this latest image sent home by Dawn, orbiting at an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 km). The mountain stands 4 miles (6 km) tall—a bit shorter than Mt. Everest, which tops out at 5.49 miles (8.83 km). But context is everything. A 4-mile-tall mountain on a tiny world like Ceres is the equivalent of a 49.8-mile-tall (80.1 km) mountain on Earth, or nine times taller than a pipsqueak like Everest. The Ceres mountain is not terribly active—at least as evidenced by the absence of debris at its base—but it is scored by a bright streak running down its side, which suggests some kind of dynamic processes at least in the past. Every pixel of the Dawn image represents 450 ft. (140 m) of Ceres’ surface, which is already an impressively granular resolution. In the future, the spacecraft will approach the surface at just 25% of its current altitude, improving image detail dramatically. Whatever secrets Ceres is keeping Dawn may soon reveal. ### Here are the Best Photos from Cassini's Mission to Saturn  The spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm on Nov. 27, 2012\. Taken using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute  Saturn's lonely moon, Mimas on Nov. 30, 2004. AFP/Getty Images  The rings of Saturn captured by Cassini before it entered the orbit on 21 Jun. 2004. SSPL/Getty Images  A view of Saturn's moon Dione, taken during a close flyby on Jun. 16, 2015. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  The moons Titan, Mimas, and Rhea, captured by Cassini in this image released on Jun. 22, 2015. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  A geyser basin at the south pole of Enceladus on Nov. 30, 2010. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  A huge northern storm on Saturn In mid-Sept. 2004. Barcroft Media/Getty Images  Chasms on Dione. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 11, 2015. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  Pandora on the edge of Saturn's ring on Nov. 8, 2009. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute  View of Saturn's rings as they surround the planet. Universal History Archive—UIG/Getty Images  The Earth and the moon photographed by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Jul. 19, 2013. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  Pale, icy Dione, taken on Oct. 11, 2005. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute—NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute  Red arcs in the northern area of Tethys on April 2015. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute  An aurora on Saturn. The composite image was made from 65 individual observations by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on Nov. 1, 2008\. The observations were each six minutes long. NASA/SSPL/Getty Images  The Cassini spacecraft captured the storms at Saturn's north pole in this false color image released in April 2013\. The storm appears dark red while the fast-moving hexagonal jet stream framing it is a yellowish green. Low-lying clouds circling inside the hexagonal feature appear in orange. A second, smaller vortex pops out in teal at the lower right of the image. The rings of Saturn appear in vivid blue at the top right. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI  Saturn's moon Enceladus brightly reflects sunlight before a backdrop of the planet's rings. Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images  The Cassini spacecraft observed three of Saturn's moons set against the night side of the planet in this image from April 2011. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  Phoebe, captured during Cassini's flyby on Jun. 11, 2004. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  Five moons of Saturn dominated by Rhea in the foreground on Jan. 11, 2011. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute—NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute  The Cassini spacecraft takes one of its last good looks at Iapetus, a Saturnian moon. UIG/Getty Images  Saturn's moon Hyperion, taken during a close flyby on May 31, 2015\. This flyby marks the mission's final close approach to Saturn's largest irregularly shaped moon. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  The Cassini spacecraft captures a glimpse of the moon Atlas shortly after emerging from Saturn's shadow on Jan. 23, 2014. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute  Mimas, Dione and Titan on May 27, 2015\. The image is taken using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 728 nanometers NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute  A swing high above Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed this stately view of the golden-hued planet and its main rings on Oct. 10, 2013. NASA/JPL ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4009701/ceres-mountain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4009701/ceres-mountain/"},"headline":"See the Massive Mountain on Dwarf Planet Ceres","datePublished":"2015-08-25T15:09:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:56.394Z","description":"It's just a bit shorter than Mt. 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