---
title: "Dawn Probe Achieves Ceres Orbit"
description: "The US space agency's Dawn probe has gone into orbit around Ceres, the largest object in the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter."
date: "2015-03-06"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "Alex Klokus"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/alex-klokus"
url: "https://futurism.com/dawn-probe-achieves-ceres-orbit"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "space"
---

# Dawn Probe Achieves Ceres Orbit

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

- Ceres is the first of the dwarf planets to be visited by a spacecraft.Scientists hope to glean information from the object that can tell them about the Solar System's beginnings, four and a half billion years ago.
- Dawn has taken 7.5 years to reach its destination. Its arrival has seen it pass behind the dwarf to its "dark side".Over the next month, controllers will re-shape the orbit to get it ready to begin the prime science phase in late April.
- Over time, the intention is to progressively lower the orbit until the probe is just a few hundred km above the surface. By that stage, it will be returning very high resolution pictures.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexklokus>)