Tag Archives: oort cloud

The Outer Solar System

For this blog post, I’m going to be taking you on a journey through the outer solar system, beginning with what’s usually the last stop on the tour: Pluto. Pluto, formerly a planet, is now classified as a dwarf planet, orbiting at a distant 39 AU from the Sun in the dim outer reaches of […] Continue reading

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Mysteries of the Oort Cloud

The Oort cloud is a mysterious spherical cloud of icy objects that exists beyond our solar system. This collection of icy debris is believed to be left over from the formation of the giant worlds – Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus and Saturn. The Oort cloud starts roughly 1000-2000 AU from the sun and is thought to […] Continue reading

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The Oort Cloud

The Oort Cloud is a collection of comets that orbit the Sun far outside our solar system. One estimation of the number of comets in the Oort Cloud is one TRILLION. Unlike the Kuiper Belt, which lies outside the orbit of Neptune, the Oort Cloud neither lies on the same plane as the bodies orbitingContinue reading “The Oort Cloud” Continue reading

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Hypothetical Planets in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Clout

               With all the data we have on the orbits of familiar objects of our solar system, some interesting hypothesis have been formed about large bodies within or beyond the Kuiper Belt. This method of discovery was used in the 1840s to discover Neptune by studying the orbit of Uranus and noticing then compensating for … Continue reading Hypothetical Planets in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Clout Continue reading

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The OORT CLOUD and You

You might find yourself looking at a (to-scale) diagram of the planets of the solar system (and Pluto), such as the following: and think to yourself “Wow, Pluto is so much farther out from the sun than the Earth is. The solar system is so massive!”. And while you would be correct in your statement, … Continue reading The OORT CLOUD and You Continue reading

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Are We Overdue for a Mass Extinction?

People have argued about if and when the human race will die out on earth.  We have essentially taken ourselves out of the food chain, meaning that we won’t be hunted to extinction.  We have also made great strides in medicine making it unlikely that we will die out from disease.  It may seem improbable […] Continue reading

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Solar System Website

This image comes from solarviews.com, a cool website that has lots of info on our Solar System. It has pages about each of the planets, their moons, asteroids and much more. It also has info about other things like exoplanets and the Oort Cloud, which is a spherical cloud that surrounds our Sun and extends […] Continue reading

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