Ceres is a dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was the first known asteroid, discovered on 1 January 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily, and announced as a new planet. Ceres was later classified as an asteroid and more recently as a dwarf planet, the only one not beyond the orbit of Neptune and the largest that does not have a moon.