It is incredible to get some detail from a dwarf planet like Ceres from an Earth-based observatory. Nevertheless, Fabio Carvalho of Sao Carlos, Brazil, has been able to do it. He used a medium size telescope, a 10-inch Newtonian at F/6. A 5x barlow increases that value up to F/30. Hubble space telescope has also been able to catch some more details in its surface. The same happens for Keck Observatory using adaptative optics. This dwarf planet belongs to the asteroid belt.

by Fabio Carvalho on 2009-07-03 19:01:10 [Original Size] - [Next Image] - [Author's gallery]