Oort Cloud

What in the universe is the Oort Cloud?The Oort Cloud is a vast, distant group of icy bodies surrounding our solar system.

The Great.... Jan Oort!Jan Oort was a Dutch astronomer who proposed that some comets came from a group of distant objects that surrounded our solar system in 1950. In other words, Jan Oort was the amazing astronomer who discovered the icy body mass, the Oort Cloud! :) (That's why the Oort Cloud was named the 'Oort Cloud'; it was named after him)

Oort Cloud"O_o"rt Cloudby Emily Kim

(awrt, ohrt)aw=oroh=owe

What are Comets?Comets are small, loosely packed bodies of ice, rock, and dust that mostly come from the Oort Cloud.

DID YOU KNOW?Halley's Comet and Comet Hale-Bopp is believed to have originally come from the Oort Cloud.

"Long-Period" Comets; a Story from Lea, a Long-Period CometI was resting peacefully amongst many other icy bodies in our home, the Oort Cloud when suddenly a gigantic molecular cloud passed by and disturbed us, making some of us fall into the inner solar system. Then, I started orbiting the sun in a vast, eccentric orbit. So far, I've heard some anecdotes from elderly comets. They too, had fallen out of the Oort Cloud due to disturbances. However, the disturbances varied; some had been disturbed by giant molecular clouds-like me, others were distrubed by stars passing by, and some had been disturbed by tidal interactions with the Milky Way's disc. They've also said that it takes thousands of years to orbit the sun and advised me to observe closely wherever I go because it would be a long time until I would see the beauty of that one place again. So, off I go! Wish me a safe journey! -Lea

There are also short-period comets that take less than 200 years to orbit the sun and they travel along the planets like the great buddies there are! Unlike long-period comets, short-period comets are believed to come from the Kuiper Belt.

LINK TO BIBLIOGRAPHY:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HtJuFt4UFg8Rzog0AnjzZdMLg-jRfHz85CwfZzxBA_U/edit

Oort Cloud ProfileCONTAINS: about 0.1-0.2 trillion icy bodiesSIZE: occupies space of distance at between 5,000 and 100,000 astronomical unitsLOCATION: far past the orbit of Pluto, surrounding our solar system

Halley's Comet

Comet Hale-Bopp