Terra incognita refer to the hypothesized continent Terra Australis Incognita ("The unknown land of the South"), as seen in the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum map by Abraham Ortelius (1570). During the 19th century "terra incognita" disappeared from maps of the earth, since both the coastlines and the inner parts of the continents had been fully explored. But the bottoms of the seas remain mostly un-mapped, as do many other land surfaces in the solar system. The phrase is now also used metaphorically by various researchers to describe any unexplored subject or field of research. For more history of the terms, see Terra Australis,
Minor planet asteroids. A minor planet seen releasing gas may be dually classified as a comet. Objects are called dwarf planets if their self-gravity is sufficient to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium and form an ellipsoidal shape. All other minor planets and comets are called "small Solar System bodies". The IAU stated that the term "minor planet" may still be used, but the term "small Solar System body" will be preferred. However, for purposes of numbering and naming, the traditional distinction between minor planet and comet is still used. Hundreds of thousands of minor planets have been discovered within the Solar System and thousands