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Impact craters on Ceres exhibit a wide range of appearances. A large number of Cererian craters have central peaks. A large number of Cererian craters have central peaks. By correlating the presence or absence of central peaks with the sizes of the craters, scientists can infer the properties of Ceres's crust, such as how strong it is.
Ceres is saturated with impact craters.Many have a central pit or bright spot. In the first batch of 17 names approved by the IAU, craters north of 20° north latitude had names beginning with A–G (with Asari being the furthest north), those between 20° north and south latitude beginning with H–R, and those further south beginning with S–Z (with Zadeni being the furthest south).
Occator / ɒ ˈ k eɪ t ər / is an impact crater located on Ceres, the largest object in the main asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, that contains "Spot 5", the brightest of the bright spots observed by the Dawn spacecraft.
Models based on the formation of the current asteroid belt had predicted Ceres should have ten to fifteen craters larger than 400 km (250 mi) in diameter. [76] The largest confirmed crater on Ceres, Kerwan Basin, is 284 km (176 mi) across. [77] The most likely reason for this is viscous relaxation of the crust slowly flattening out larger impacts.
The brightest cluster of spots ("Spot 5") is located in an 80-kilometer (50 mi) crater called Occator, [1] [2] which is located at 19.86° N latitude; 238.85 E longitude. [1] [2] Spots on Ceres from different angles. The spot in the center of the crater is named Cerealia Facula, [16] and the group of spots to the east - Vinalia Faculae. [17]
Oxo / ˈ ɒ ʃ oʊ / is a small impact crater on the dwarf planet Ceres. Located in Ceres's northern hemisphere, it is the second-brightest feature on Ceres, after Haulani Crater . The crater was named after the Candomblé (and Yoruba ) god of agriculture.
The crater is distinctly shallow for its size, and lacks a central peak. A central peak might have been destroyed by a 15-kilometer-wide crater at the center of Kerwan. The crater is likely to be young relative to the rest of Ceres's surface, as Kerwan has largely obliterated the cratering in the southern part of Vendimia Planitia. [2]
As with many craters on Ceres, Haulani has been extensively modified by mass wasting processes, with landslide deposits from the crater rim covering parts of its floor. It is one of the youngest large craters on Ceres, estimated to have been formed between 1.7 and 5.9 million years ago. As a result, it is one of Ceres's brightest surface features.