What is the Oort Cloud?

The Oort Cloud is a theoretical cloud of icy objects located at the outermost reaches of our Solar System. The Oort Cloud is named after the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort who first proposed its existence in 1950. The Oort Cloud is believed to be a spherical shell of comets and other icy objects that surrounds our Solar System at a distance of approximately 2,000 to 200,000 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. To put that into perspective, one astronomical unit is equivalent to the distance between the Sun and Earth, which is about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.

The Oort Cloud is believed to be the source of long-period comets, which take more than 200 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. These comets are thought to be remnants from the early Solar System and have been relatively untouched since their formation. Although the existence of the Oort Cloud has not yet been proven, its existence is widely accepted by astronomers due to the observed behavior of long-period comets and other evidence.