Oort Cloud (Noun)
Meaning
(astronomy) a hypothetical huge collection of comets orbiting the sun far beyond the orbit of Pluto; perturbations (as by other stars) can upset a comet's orbit and may send it tumbling toward the sun.
Classification
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects.
Examples
- The Oort Cloud is thought to be a distant reservoir of icy bodies that occasionally perturb into orbits that bring them closer to the Sun.
- Comets that originate from the Oort Cloud are known as long-period comets, which take more than 200 years to complete one orbit around the Sun.
- The Oort Cloud is a vast, spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding the solar system, extending from about 2,000 to 100,000 astronomical units from the Sun.
- It is believed that the Oort Cloud was formed during the early days of the solar system, when the Sun and planets were still in their formative stages.
- Perturbations from nearby stars can cause comets in the Oort Cloud to be ejected into highly elliptical orbits that bring them closer to the inner solar system.