Ceres

Ceres

Minor Planet in the Sol System – Union World – Population 22 Million – Represented at the Assembly. Civics: Elected AI – Assembly Representative – Elected Laws: Union + Local Main Settlements:  12 Mil Piazzi Town : 4 Mil Dawn City: 4 Mil McLane: 2 Mil

- Ceres, is the only dwarf planet in the inner Sol System, and the largest asteroid.It is a rock–ice body 950 km (590 mi) in diameter, and though the smallest identified dwarf planet, it constitutes a third of the mass of the asteroid belt.Discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, it was the first asteroid to be identified, though it was classified as a planet at the time. It is named after Ceres, the Roman goddess of growing plants, the harvest, and motherly love. The Cererian surface is a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clays. It is differentiated into a rocky core and icy mantle  and  harbours an ocean of liquid water under its surface.

--

First survey expedition 2093  by United Earth Commander Buck McLane. First permanent settlement in 2118. During the early years, Ceres served as a Traffic Hub and Smelter base for the Asteroid Belt Miners  and was heavily mined for metals and Water Ice. Piazzi Town became the largest Asteroid Farmer Town and being the first United Earth Astro-Shroom production site. To this day the largest Astro Shroom Farming Corporations maintain HQ's on Ceres as well as Shroom Research Institutes and Labs. Several large Shroom Paste and Astro Shroom Products factories are still on Ceres.

Dawn City has become the destination for Motherly Love. It features a Mother Love Festival, The Mothers Day Museum and the largest Mother's Day Mail Order Company in the Galaxy. There are Spa's and Mother pampering and recreation facilities, Mother themed conferences and Symposiums. The Ceres Festivals draw many millions of visitors every year from all over the Galaxy. Many, especially men find the Motherly atmosphere as gaggingly “sweet” and “corny”but it is an enormous money maker with annual sales reaching several hundred billion credits. Mother Care Inc, Mother Wear Inc, Mother's Day Gifts Inc and a dozen others have their HQ's on Ceres.

The large sub surface ocean harbors, Non terran – Ceres native Life forms ( Ceres Tube Worms) and Piazzi Town is on the Ocean Floor. Ceres is connected to Sol Hub via TransMatter Tunnel, System Tram and has its own Class C Space Port. (mostly for freight) There is no Space Bus Connection (but Space Tram to Sol Hub, TNO Hub and Luna) Ceres has the usual Union Installations : School. Class II Medical, Xchange, Post Office, Federal Police Station.

--

From Earth, the apparent magnitude of Ceres ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, and hence even at its brightest it is still too dim to be seen with the naked eye except under extremely dark skies.[15] The unmanned Dawn spacecraft, launched on 27 September 2007 by NASA, is expected to be the first to explore Ceres after its scheduled arrival there in 2015.[28] The spacecraft left asteroid 4 Vesta

-

Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.[14 ] The mass of Ceres has been determined by analysis of the influence it exerts on smaller asteroids. Results differ slightly between researchers.[57 ] The average of the three most precise values as of 2008 is 9.4 × 1020 kg.[9 ] [57 ] With this mass Ceres comprises about a third of the estimated total 3.0 ± 0.2 × 1021 kg mass of the asteroid belt,[22 ] which is in turn about 4% of the mass of the Moon. The surface area is approximately equal to the land area of India or Argentina.[58 ] The mass of Ceres is sufficient to give it a nearly spherical shape in hydrostatic equilibrium.[8 ] In contrast, other large asteroids such as 2 Pallas,[59 ] 3 Juno,[60 ] and in particular 10 Hygiea[61 ] are known to be somewhat irregular in shape.

[[Category:C]]