Oort Cloud
oort cloud
Image from Steve Bowers

A spherical shell around most stars containing numerous small bodies of cometary material. A typical Oort cloud is about 0.5 to 1 light years from its primary and has an aggregate mass about that of Earth; density is thus extremely low. The main constituents of cometary bodies are ice and dust ("dirty snowballs"). Bodies in the Oort cloud are occasionally perturbed by collisions or by the influence of nearby stars into orbits which pass near the star; these form the visible comets. The Oort cloud is named after its discoverer, Old Earth presingularity astronomer Jan Oort.
 
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Appears in Topics
AstronomyHiders
 
Development Notes
Text by Traveller Library Database

Initially published on 17 December 2001.