Oort Cloud

The Oort Cloud is a hypothetical spherical cloud of icy objects that is believed to be the source of most of the long-period comets that orbit the Sun. It is thought to extend from the outer edge of the Kuiper Belt to as far as halfway to the nearest star, and is estimated to contain trillions of objects. The Oort Cloud is named after Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, who first proposed its existence in 1950 based on observations of comets. Although the Oort Cloud has never been directly observed, its existence is supported by the orbits of long-period comets, which are consistent with having originated from the cloud.

Your Previous Searches

Random Picks

Rocket Engine: A rocket engine is a type of jet engine that uses only stored rocket propellants to generate its high-speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines, producing thrust in accordance with Newton's third law. Rocket engines are used ... Read More >>
Huffman Coding: Huffman coding is a lossless data compression algorithm that assigns variable-length codes to different symbols based on their frequency of occurrence. The more frequent a symbol is, the shorter its code will be. This algorithm is widely us ... Read More >>
Coriolis Force: Coriolis force is a fictitious force that appears in a rotating reference frame. In the context of space and astronautical engineering, it is an important concept in understanding the motion of objects in orbit around a rotating planet or o ... Read More >>

Oort Cloud

Your Previous Searches

Random Picks

Top News

Orionids meteor shower is this weekend: Where and when to watch its peak...

Acting or hosting, Travis Kelce wants to continue to pursue a showbiz career. Bu...

Now is a great time to see Saturn in all its ringed glory...

Was Bruce Willis right? Could a nuclear blast save us from killer asteroid?...

China's answer to SpaceX's Starlink is also threatening astronomy...