Ceres and Pluto have a lot in common:
(1) They have both been classified as planets.
(2) They are now both classified as dwarf planets.
(3) Both were also named as the first of a new type of Solar System body - Ceres as an asteroid, Pluto as a Kuiper Belt object.
This year they have something else in common. They will be visited by NASA spacecraft. Dawn has already done an extensive study of asteroid Vesta and is due at Ceres in April 2015. New Horizons will make its closest approach to Pluto in July.
