Questions tagged [oort-cloud]
Questions regarding the large "cloud" of small bodies that forms a sphere around the solar system.
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Did a visiting star reshape the outer solar system?
An article here. visiting star reshapes solar system
says that computer simulations back up the idea that trans Neptunian objects could have elongated and out of plane orbits because a star 100 Au ...
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Would it be practical to map out the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud via Radar?
I recall reading an article where the moon, could be detected via radar and that orbiting radar satellites could map out the surface of mars, and in some cases even parts of Venus (the lattermost ...
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Does the Oort cloud have any large holes in it and if not does this mean nothing large has entered the solar system for a long time?
Would holes in the Oort cloud be a record of what has passed through it?
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What's the reason for the hollow region in Oort cloud?
Can someone please tell what caused the hollow space (pointed by yellow arrow) in the Oort Cloud?
I understand that it is called cloud because the cluster of objects does not align with the major ...
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Does the Oort Cloud lose mass with time?
Can blocks of ice escape from the Oort cloud and away from the solar system forever?
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Formation of a non-Sol Oort cloud with high mass planets
Based on recent developments in astronomy, pertaining to a greater degree of measurement, the mass of the Oort cloud around Sol is apparently only about 1.5 times the mass of earth, in contrast to ...
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"Tidally locked" Oort Cloud object
Is the Oort cloud spherical enough and are there enough objects in it that it is likely there is at least one in there that it has shown the same face to the sun for billions of years and will ...
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Outer Limit of Oort Cloud
In most popular astronomy articles I see the Oort Cloud described as having a radius of about two light years. Is there any firm basis for this or is it merely a guess?
If it is that big, and Alpha ...
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Why didn't passing stars destroy the Oort cloud?
Stars pass within one lightyear of Sol every half-million years or so on average. These stars enter the Oort cloud.
Each time a star passes through it's gravity will disrupt some object's orbits. How ...
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The Kuiper Belt and Oort cloud [closed]
How come the comets and asteroids in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud are kept in a gravitational field and they don't get pushed and pulled by the planets around them? I get why comets in the Oort ...
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Could more objects from the Oort cloud with highly elliptical orbits be discovered in the future?
It took the modern astronomy to live to the year of 2014 to discover 2014 UN2711 (sized roughly 100-200 km and now being re-qualified from a comet to mini object), which has "extremely" ...
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What is the density of the solar system per cubic light second outside the Jupiter ecliptic?
I have been unable to find any research on particle density over 1 cSecond above or below the ecliptic in regions with a gravitational field with an acceleration less than 1/1000 of meter per second ...
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Are there actual asteroids in the Oort cloud?
This answer to At what annual rate are new exoplanets being recognized? How does it compare to new asteroids? shows that the rate of new asteroid discovery is roughly two orders of magnitude higher ...
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Has the Oort cloud moved?
Planets have migrated throughout the history of the solar system, and some planets could even have swapped positions. Assuming the Oort cloud does exist, has it always been at its current distance ...
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Does Halley's Comet travel past the outer bounds of the Oort Cloud?
We know Halley's Comet returns every 75-76 years. We can reasonably compute its elliptical orbit.
We know that the Oort Cloud is a cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals proposed to surround the Sun ...
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How is it possible that we haven't discovered anything in the Oort cloud yet?
The Oort cloud is a hypothetical cloud of small icy bodies surrounding the Sun at more than 1000 AU. It is thought to be a vast reservoir of comets that occasionally get disrupted, sending comets ...
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Hydrogen Frost Line? Where, if anywhere, is it cold enough for Oort Cloud objects or rogue planets to have solid hydrogen on their surfaces?
I like the idea of Oort Cloud objects all being crusted with a thin layer of hydrogen snow, though what little information I've managed to find on the topic seems to imply that that is unlikely, ...
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Scientific evidence against CMB originating from “Oort Soup”?
In this article (and references therein) the author claims that the Cosmic Background Radiation can be explained as black-body radiation originating from the cold bodies filling the interstellar space ...
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Could a black hole pass quiescently through the Oort cloud?
Imagine a stellar-mass black hole passing through the Oort cloud, perhaps a quarter to half a light-year from the Sun. How black would the black hole be? That is, any matter that fell into the black ...
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How far out can the sun keep celestial objects revolving?
Astronomers define the Solar System as the distance under the influence of gravity from the Sun.
I read that the Oort cloud is probably the farthest object that surrounds the sun. The sphere of this ...
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Do hypervelocity stars have Oort clouds?
If you had a hypervelocity star travelling through space incredibly quickly, would the hypervelocity star's Oort cloud remain intact? Would the high speed of a hypervelocity star shed the comets and ...
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Oort cloud shape
In the episode of Cosmos dedicated to cometary objects and other things, the Oort cloud was graphically rendered as a spherical distribution of dots.
This surprised me as I thought that it should be ...
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Can we measure comets in a similar way to exoplanets?
A 2km comet at 40AU's can dim a sun sized star at 100 light years by 3%, and a 10km comet can cause an eclipse (is that right?) So would 2,3,10 km objects be easy to measure via star dimming if we had ...
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What wavelengths are used to search for distant solar system objects like KBOs and Oort cloud members?
What wavelengths of light are used/most suited to search for distant solar system objects like KBOs and Oort cloud members? I suppose they are brightest in reflected sunlight, so they are best ...
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If the Oort cloud has billions of objects larger than 20 km, then why do we have so few comets?
According to Wikipedia:
“The Oort cloud may have billions of objects with absolute magnitude
brighter than 11 (corresponding to approximately 20-kilometre diameter)”
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Are the Voyager spacecraft outside of our Solar System? [duplicate]
The wikipedia says that Voyager 1 cross the heliosphere, but is really outside the Solar System, or need to cross the Oort cloud?
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What is the word for space that is in the solar system, but outside the heliopause?
Wikipedia says the definition of interplanetary space is
the region dominated by the interplanetary medium, which extends out
to the heliopause where the influence of the galactic environment
...
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Is there Kuiper belt/Oort cloud like structure in gas giants?
I know gas giants have moons, just like star have planets, how about Kuiper belts or Oort Cloud? Is there any corresponding structure in gas giants? If not, why don't they have?
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Do other stars have Oort clouds? [duplicate]
Stars have in the past passed within 1 light year from the Sun, and will do so in the future too. If they have Oort clouds, would there not be interactions between their Oort cloud objects and the ...
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Astronomy Olympiad Gravitation Qn
Question:
Approximately once in 5 years people on Earth can observe bright comets whose nuclei have radius about 1km. The orbits of such comets are close to parabolic. Assuming that these nuclei are ...
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Lack of objects between heliopause and Oort cloud?
If we take a look at a logarithmic scale of the Solar System, there appears to be a large gap between the heliopause and the Oort cloud:
Why is that? There are some objects in the gap, but why are ...
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If sun steals comets from other stars, then what is the primary source of comets?
I heard some theory that sun may steal materials such as comets from neighbouring stars, is it true? But if is true, what is the primary source of those comets? Especially "who" creates them instead ...
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Estimation of average rock and asteroid mass associated with different stars
There is a lot of information on different star types and compositions.
Can we make estimates of the total mass of rock, ice, and non stellar matter that orbits stars based on star evolution models?
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Is it accurate to compare comets to clouds and rain?
I'm trying to avoid an opinion-based question, so before I outline the comparison I'm proposing, I will qualify the specific facts that yield this comparison. By focusing answers on the relative ...
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Is the Oort Cloud actually opaque, or is the "cloud" used euphemistically because minor planets inside of it are too dim to be seen?
I did read several of the Oort Cloud questions/answers which I found very helpful and instructive, but this question still persists for me:
Is the Oort Cloud actually opaque, or is the "cloud" used ...
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Lack of planets in the Oort Cloud
With the current news about the possibility of a planet in the Oort cloud, I was thinking, why is the matter in the Oort cloud distributed so? It makes sense that inside the planet region there is not ...
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Why do comets come from our local Oort cloud instead of from interstellar sources?
Comets form where stars form. And they are then ejected by the orbital changes of giant planets. But why are they ejected to form specifically a local Oort cloud instead of going interstellar and ...
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Why is the Oort cloud presumed to be spherical?
Most descriptions of the Oort cloud depict it as a mostly spherical distribution of planetesimals, with occasional allowance for an inner component that is more donut-shaped. This is slightly at odds ...
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How many observations does it take to determine the orbit of a TNO
Several observations of a distant solar object must be taken before determining its orbit, but in the case of objects discovered beyond Neptune's orbit, just how many are required over what period of ...
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Do all stars have an Oort cloud or is it a rare occurence?
Do all stars have an Oort cloud like ours that will be filled with comets and other objects? If not, why are they not around every star?
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Where does the Solar System end?
The Sun is roughly 4 light-years away from the closest star system, the Alpha Centauri system. The planets in our Solar System, however, aren't even close to that far away from the Sun. Where does our ...
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How did scientists determine an estimate of the number of planets greater than Sedna's size to exist in the Inner Oort Cloud?
In the article, New Dwarf Planet Found at Solar System's Edge, Hints at Possible Faraway 'Planet X' (Wall, 2014) where they report on research and observations performed by astronomers that discovered ...
user2449
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Might Oort cloud comets be exchanged between solar systems?
Considering their distance from their parent stars, might Oort cloud object such as comets be exchanged between passing stars (assuming that other stars have similar Oort clouds)?
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What reason is there to doubt the existence of the hypothesised planet Tyche in the far distant solar system?
Please note, I do not necessarily believe in its existence, just after a scientific (hence, non-Wikipedia) reasoning to doubt the planet's existence, other than the "we would have seen it" argument. ...
user8
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Why can't we observe the Oort cloud with a telescope?
The Oort cloud is a hypothetical structure based on our observation of long-period comets. There are currently proposals to design probes to confirm the existence of the Oort cloud.
Now, sending a ...
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