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Oort Cloud Facts for Kids

Oort Cloud Facts for Kids

  • Common Name: Oort Cloud or Opik-Oort-Cloud
  • Located: Beyond the Heliosphere, Interstellar Space
  • Regions: Inner Oort Cloud and Outer Oort Cloud
  • Discovery Date: 1950 (first described)
  • Object Count: Trillions of Icy Planetesimals Bodies
  • First Exploration: 2322 (Voyager 1, Impractical)
  • Distance from the Sun: 0.03 to 3.2 Light-Years

14 Oort Cloud Facts For Kids

  1. The Oort Cloud is a region in our Solar System beyond the Kuiper Belt that contains mainly icy planetesimals.
  2. The Oort Cloud is also known as the Opik-Oort Cloud.
  3. The Oort Cloud is named after Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik Oort who in 1950 came up with the theory of the Oort Cloud and the source of comets.
  4. The Oort Cloud is estimated to surround our Solar System at a range between 0.03 to 3.2 light-years.
  5. The Oort Cloud extends beyond the Sun’s heliosphere and is technically in interstellar space.
  6. The Oort Cloud is divided into two regions, the inner Oort Cloud, and the outer Oort Cloud.
  7. The inner Oort Cloud is a disc-shaped region and outer Oort Cloud is a spherical-shaped region.
  8. The Oort Cloud is vaguely bounded to our Solar System and can be directly affected by nearby stars.
  9. When nearby stars affect the Oort Cloud it can send comets into our inner Solar System.
  10. Astronomers believe many comets originate from the Oort Cloud, especially long-period and near-parabolic comets.
  11. It is possible that some short-period comets originated in the Oort Cloud, but most come from the Kuiper Belt.
  12. An example of a comet that we know came from the Oort Cloud is Comet SWAN (C/2020 F8).
  13. The largest known Oort Cloud comet is Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein (C/2014 UN271) with a nucleus diameter of at least 75 miles.
  14. It is estimated that Voyager 1 will reach the Oort Cloud by 2322, but its power supply will be insufficient by 2025.

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Oort Cloud Pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below images will be helpful for your research on the Oort Cloud. Below are three pictures of the Oort Cloud. These pictures should help you better understand the Oort Cloud, the region of space far beyond the Kuiper Belt.

The Oort Cloud

A illustration of the Oort Cloud.

Icy Bodies in the Oort Cloud

A illustration of icy bodies in the Oort Cloud.

Illustration of the Oort Cloud

An example of bodies in the Oort Cloud.

Oort Cloud Resources

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