Ceres and the terrestrial planets impact cratering record

Abstract

Dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the Main Asteroid Belt, has a surface that exhibits a range of crater densities for a crater diameter range of 5-300 km. In all areas the shape of the craters' size frequency distribution is very similar to those of the most ancient heavily cratered surfaces on the terrestrial planets. The most heavily cratered terrain on Ceres covers similar to 15% of its surface and has a crater density similar to the highest crater density on <1% of the lunar highlands. This region of higher crater density on Ceres probably records the high impact rate at early times and indicates that the other 85% of Ceres was partly resurfaced after the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) at similar to 4 Ga. The Ceres cratering record strongly indicates that the period of Late Heavy Bombardment originated from an impactor population whose size-frequency distribution resembles that of the Main Belt Asteroids. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.