Dwarf planets · Dwarf planet
The largest object in the asteroid belt and a dwarf planet. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Dawn orthographic view centred on Occator (Sampled from this image)
#585858#5D5D5D#4F4F4F#6B6B6B#3B3B3B#181818#858585
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. · released 2017-09-20
About Ceres
The largest object in the asteroid belt and a dwarf planet.
| Classification | Dwarf planet |
|---|
Why these colours?
Dawn orthographic view centred on Occator
A monochrome globe made from Dawn framing-camera images: its grey tones show brightness, not colour, with bright salt deposits in Occator Crater.
From: Dawn orthographic view centred on Occator Enhanced visible colour
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Ceres.
Dawn orthographic view centred on Occator
Sampled from this image · Dawn orthographic view centred on Occator
#585858RGB 88, 88, 88region average#5D5D5DRGB 93, 93, 9334% of the region#4F4F4FRGB 79, 79, 7932% of the region#6B6B6BRGB 107, 107, 10715% of the region#3B3B3BRGB 59, 59, 5913% of the region#181818RGB 24, 24, 244% of the region#858585RGB 133, 133, 1333% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Ceres
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Ceres
Inspired by this object
#2E2E2ERGB 46, 46, 46from #181818#4F4F4FRGB 79, 79, 79from #3B3B3B#727272RGB 114, 114, 114from #4F4F4F#979797RGB 151, 151, 151from #5D5D5D#BFBFBFRGB 191, 191, 191from #6B6B6B#E8E8E8RGB 232, 232, 232from #858585
Colours of the first view of Ceres with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- About the Planets — NASA
- High Resolution Ceres View — NASA
Image credits
- Dawn orthographic view centred on Occator: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. NASA media (not copyrighted; see the NASA image and media guidelines). Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 1339a0ad01c55fae9efcf05c3f8e20973e9af2cacf5898084a77fe1a9f28d0c9).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 374de657fe44. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.