Relict Ocean Worlds: Ceres

The aim of this chapter is to describe available evidence for the existence of relict ocean worlds. The focus is on Ceres as a clear example of such a world as indicated by the results from the Dawn mission. The sections of this chapter will also reflect the differences and commonalities with other recognized ocean worlds. We focus on Ceres as an example of relict ocean world and the implications it holds for the broader solar system. The presence of a large amount of water in the outer Solar System, the presence of low eutectic salts, and the similar pressure and temperature regimes at depth in icy moons and other dwarf planets suggest that many of these large icy worlds harbor or harbored deep oceans. Ceres is an example of relict Ocean world.