Ceres (also referred to as (1) Ceres or 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planet of the solar system, the smallest of the three currently acknowledged as so and the only one located in the main asteroid belt. Discovered on January 1st 1801 by Italian astronomer Giuseppe Pazzi, who thought it was the missing planet between Mars and Jupiter, it has a diameter of 950 km and is by far the largest and heaviest object of the main belt, amounting one third of the total mass of the asteroids. It was named after Ceres, Roman goddess of growing plants and motherly love.