images

The Oort cloud. Artwork

by

S.Numazawa/APB/Novapix

Reference

a-com99-90001

Date

2006-10-21

The Oort Cloud is a huge spherical cloud surrounding our Solar System. Extending about 30 trillion kilometers (18 trillion miles) from the Sun, it was first proposed in 1950 by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort. The vast distance of the Oort cloud is considered to be the outer edge of the Solar System where the Sun's influence ends. It contains billions of icy bodies and seems to be the birth place of comets.