Early Morning..
So its at the crack of Dawn then?
NASA has confirmed the launch date for Dawn, its mission to the asteroid belt. The space agency is aiming for a launch window that opens at 07:25 (EDT) on 26 September, and closes again 29 minutes later. Artist's impression of Dawn flying past the dwarf-planet Ceres Artist's impression of Dawn flying past the dwarf-planet …
It's true that "minor planet" is another term for asteroid.
However, ever since Pluto got demoted, there has been a category of Solar System bodies known as "dwarf planets"; Pluto is one of them, Ceres is another, and other large Kuiper Belt Objects, such as Eris, are also likely to be accepted as belonging to this category.