Scientists find 27 strange new objects hovering on the edge of our Solar System

Artist’s concept of a Trans-Neptunian Object, a small, faint, icy body (Picture: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)/Cover Images)

Scientists have identified 27 mysterious new objects hovering at the edge of our Solar System.

Astronomers used the combined power of NASA’s Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes for the first time to study the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).

TNOs are small, faint and icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune.

Some are among the smallest and faintest objects ever directly observed.

In two complementary papers published in The Astronomical Journal, researchers analysed the colour, composition and size distribution of 27 newly discovered tiny TNOs.

They unexpectedly found fewer small TNOs than predicted by some models of planet formation. They also discovered tha...