As scientists, of course, we need to know the difference between the eight things that are, let's say, major planets versus the minor planets. (discovermagazine.com)
The existence of multiple asteroid systems provides direct clues about the collisional past of the solar system and the formation of major planets. (seti.org)
Astronomers once pictured the Kuiper belt as a giant ring - shaped collection of bodies along a disklike plane, called the ecliptic, in which Earth and all the other major planets orbit. (discovermagazine.com)