AST-268intermediate

The Oort Cloud: Physical Mechanisms

The Oort cloud is an inferred, extremely distant reservoir of icy bodies surrounding the Solar System in a roughly spherical distribution. The Oort cloud preserves information about early giant-planet scattering, the Sun's birth environment, and the Solar System's interaction with the Galaxy.

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The Oort Cloud: Physical Mechanisms

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AST-267The Oort Cloud: Structures & Vocabulary→

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AST-269The Oort Cloud: Observation, Measurement & Evidence→

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The Oort cloud is an inferred, extremely distant reservoir of icy bodies surrounding the Solar System in a roughly spherical distribution.

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Icy planetesimals formed much closer to the young Sun and were scattered outward by giant planets.

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Long-period comets arrive from many directions and often have very large semimajor axes, unlike a flat disk population.