00:00NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered 27 tiny worlds beyond Neptune.
00:05These objects are known as trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs.
00:09They are icy remnants left over from the formation of our solar system.
00:14Researchers combined Webb observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
00:18Together, the telescopes helped determine the object's sizes, orbits, and surface colors.
00:23The smallest newly studied object measured about 3 miles, or 5 kilometers, across.
00:29These distant worlds can be more than 100 million times fainter than objects visible to the naked eye.
00:35The researchers found fewer tiny TNOs than some planet formation models predicted.
00:40But their colors revealed an unexpected clue.
00:43Small TNOs showed similar color patterns to much larger objects.
00:47That suggests some may have preserved signatures from their original formation.
00:52The findings could help scientists better understand how the solar system's earliest building blocks formed.
00:58Researchers are now investigating how these tiny icy worlds survived billions of years of collisions.
01:05Disclosure.
01:05This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
01:10Disclosure.
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