The chemical element named after the asteroid Ceres, discovered in 1801, is cerium.
Cerium is a soft, silvery metal with atomic number 58 and the symbol Ce. Martin Heinrich Klaproth and Jöns Jacob Berzelius with Wilhelm Hisinger are credited with its discovery in 1803, only two years after Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the asteroid Ceres. The element's name follows the astronomical naming tradition used for several elements identified during that era.
Cerium is the most abundant of the lanthanide elements in Earth's crust. It occurs in minerals such as monazite and bastnäsite, usually alongside other rare-earth elements, so separating and purifying it can be technically challenging. Despite the name “rare earth,” cerium is not especially rare in geological abundance.
Cerium compounds have practical uses in glass polishing, catalytic converters, and specialized glass manufacture. Cerium oxide is an important polishing powder for glass and precision optical materials. Cerium is sometimes confused with zirconium because both are used in high-temperature or industrial materials, but they are different elements with different atomic numbers and chemical behavior.