The Oort Cloud Could Have More Rock Than Previously Believed

This artist's concept puts Solar System distances in perspective. The scale bar is in astronomical units, with each set distance beyond 1 AU representing 10 times the previous distance (logarithmic scale.) The image shows Voyager 2's location in 2018. (It also shows where the star Ross 248 will be in 40,000 years, when it will briefly be the closest star to the Sun.) Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Oort Cloud is a collection of icy objects in the furthest reaches of the Solar System. It contains the most distant objects in the Solar System, and instead of orbiting on a plane like the planets or forming a ring like the Kuiper Belt, it’s a vast spherical cloud centred on the Sun. It’s where comets originate, and beyond it is interstellar space.

At least that’s what scientists think; nobody’s ever seen it.

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