oort cloud

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Definition von oort cloud im Englisch Englisch wörterbuch

A roughly spherical region of space from 50,000 to 100,000 astronomical units (approximately 1 light year) from the sun; supposedly the source of most comets

3 light-year to one light-year or more that is probably the source of most long-period comets. In 1950 the Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-92) noted that no comets have orbits that would indicate an interstellar origin. He proposed that the Sun is surrounded by billions of these objects, which are only occasionally detectable when they enter the inner solar system. The Oort cloud is believed to be composed of primordial bodies dating from the formation of the solar system (see solar nebula). Whether the Oort cloud merges, in its inner region, into the disk-shaped Kuiper belt is not known

A swarm of comets orbiting the sun at a distance of one to two light-years, proposed as a source of comets that pass near the sun. Vast spherical cloud of small, icy bodies orbiting the Sun at distances ranging from about

(astronomy) a hypothetical huge collection of comets orbiting the sun far beyond the orbit of Pluto; perturbations (as by other stars) can upset a comet's orbit and may send it tumbling toward the sun

Etymologie

() Named after Jan Oort.