Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter, with a diameter of 587 miles. The space rock is the only dwarf planet inside Neptune’s orbit and was first discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801, who originally believed it was an asteroid. However, the Italian astronomer passed away in 1826 and the lump of rock and ice was lost for years.
Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University, revealed how Piazzi made the discovery during BBC Radio 4’s “In Our Time – Asteroids” broadcast.
She said in 2005: “Giuseppe Piazzi was looking for a missing planet using star charts.
“And he found a spot of light where they shouldn’t have been one.
“He thought it was a very, very dim star, but he looked again the next night and he could see it had moved.
A space rock was lost temporarily (Image: GETTY)
Unfortunately the weather closed in and he could not observe it anymore – it was lost
“He realised it had moved quite a bit – stars do not move.”
Ms Grady, who was awarded the Coke Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2016 for her work in science communication, went on to reveal how astronomers lost it.
She added: “He [Piazzi] tracked it for several nights and saw it was moving very rapidly and so he realised it was not a star.
“Unfortunately the weather closed in and he could not observe it anymore – it was lost, then Piazzi died.
Monica Grady is a professor of Planetary and Space Science (Image: WIKI)
“People knew there was this small planet, but it was lost for several years until it was discovered again.
“We now call this Ceres.”
The robotic NASA spacecraft Dawn entered orbit around Ceres on March, 6, 2015, to learn more about it.
However, the space agency is constantly on the lookout for asteroids that may pose a threat to Earth.
Previously, a scientist admitted he was “absolutely certain” an asteroid similar to what wiped out the dinosaurs would strike again.
Ceres has now been identified as a dwarf planet (Image: WIKI)
John Zarnecki, International Space Science director revealed in 2005: “It is absolutely certain that we will be hit again.
“The question is when will we be hit again? And I can’t give any predictions.
“It could be in five years time, it could be in five thousand, or even five million.”
Mr Zarnecki, who is a former Professor of Space Science at the Open University, urged more research to be put into defending the planet.
He added: “We just have to look around us in the solar system at objects like the moon, hammered with impact craters.
John Zarnecki is the International Space Science director (Image: WIKI)
“On the astronomical timescale, these happen relatively frequently.
“We live in a very dynamic solar system and it is a matter of when [an asteroid will hit].
“We should be looking, planning at ways to deflect an asteroid at some point.”
Jay Melosh, an American geophysicist came up with a genius plan to “save the world” back in 2009.
He revealed during Amazon Prime’s “Asteroid Trackers” series how NASA could knock the space rock off course.
Jay Molesh believes he can save the world (Image: AMAZON PRIME)
Mr Melosh said: “In space, we would use a mirror like a magnifying glass.
“As we hit the asteroid, we begin to vaporise material and, as it vaporises, the asteroid gets pushed the other way.
“What we would do with a real asteroid is focus some light on it until the rock vaporises.
“All we need to do is change the velocity of the asteroid by one centimetre a second.
“That tiny nudge over the year will push it off a collision course and save Earth.”