Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres (right) has been classified as a planet, an asteroid and a dwarf planet. It is the nearest dwarf planet to our sun.
Dawn traveled 2.8 billion kilometers (1.8 billion miles) to get from Earth to Vesta. It will travel another 1.6 billion kilometers (990 million miles) to get to Ceres.
Dawn used Mars' gravity to give it a boost to the main asteroid belt.
NASA's Dawn spacecraft on July 16 became the first probe ever to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
