At the edge of our solar system, a host of large, icy bodies make up the Oort cloud, which appears to sport two spiral arms reminiscent of a disk-shaped galaxy. New research founded upon a simulation using NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer has proposed that the Oort cloud takes on this spiral as a result of a phenomenon known as the Galactic tide, centered around gravitational forces.
A recent paper published in the arXiv preprint server presents an updated perspective on the Oort cloud, which has historically been understood only through scientists’ knowledge of distant comets. Although the Oort cloud hasn’t been directly observed, this latest simulation has allowed researchers to understand its existence better.
The Oort cloud spans a great distance, from around 2,000 to between 100,000 and 200,000 astronomical units (au). For reference, 1 au is equivalent to nearly 150 million kilometers (93 million miles), and Neptune, the farthest planet ...
