Our solar system is vast beyond measure and astronomers and scientists are trying hard to understand it. Common man's understanding somehow limits to the eight planets orbiting around the sun. There are still discussions about Pluto's exclusion from the nine planet list. In all of this, researchers studying the Outer Solar System Origins Survey were mapping the paths taken by small icy worlds around the sun. They used an imaging camera which helped in pinpointing the slow-moving dots of light within the sky near planet Neptune and a little away from our galaxy Milky Way. They have discovered 840 minor planets travelling around the sun, just a little ahead of Neptune.

This discovery happens to be the largest one ever made and opens a new patch of planets for scientists to discover. It also increases the number of distant objects with well-known paths around the sun by 50%. This discovery is vital considering they can reveal some more things about the history of our solar system. The discovery of these 840 objects in the solar system shed a light that there could thousands more revolving around our source of energy- Sun.

These 840 planets are divided into two groups- one consisting of 436 planets located in the Kuiper belt, about 37 to 50 astronomical units (au) from the sun (One au covers the distance between the sun and the Earth). The second group consists of 313 planets. The team of researchers estimate there would be 90,000 of more such icy worlds in the orbit from the time Neptune was discovered.

These orbits may have been the undisturbed ones since the rise of the solar system. These small planets are a world in itself which moved around the sun until they settled in their present locations. Planetary migration has happened in many systems. By mapping, these minor planet populations can help to reconstruct how big planets were pushed into space. This new discovery will help in putting the pieces together, researchers are hoping.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 30, 2018 04:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).