What is the Oort cloud?
Q: What is the Oort cloud?
A: The Oort cloud is a cloud of comets and other objects believed to be located way beyond the orbits of Pluto and the Kuiper belt.
Q: What is the source of long-period comets in the Solar System?
A: The Oort cloud is believed to be the source of long-period comets in the Solar System.
Q: How far is the Oort cloud from the Sun?
A: The Oort cloud may lie about 50,000 AU or nearly a light-year from the Sun.
Q: How does the distance between the Oort cloud and the Kuiper belt compare?
A: The distance of the Oort cloud is nearly a quarter of the way to Proxima Centauri, while the Kuiper belt and scattered disc, the other two reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects, are less than one thousandth of the Oort cloud's distance.
Q: What is the significance of the outer limit of the Oort cloud?
A: The outer limit of the Oort cloud defines the boundary of the Solar System and the region of the Sun's gravitational dominance.
Q: Who published the Oort cloud idea?
A: The Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort published the Oort cloud idea in 1950.
Q: What were named after Jan Hendrik Oort?
A: The Oort cloud, Oort comet, and Oort constants were named after Jan Hendrik Oort.
