A recent study has shed new light on the mysterious Oort Cloud, a distant spherical shell of icy cloud surrounding our solar system. Using NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer, researchers have discovered that the inner structure of the Oort Cloud bears a striking resemblance to the spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy.
The Oort Cloud is an extremely distant region, with its inner edge located between 2,000 and 5,000 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. Its outer edge stretches up to 100,000 AU from the Sun, making it one of the most distant regions in our solar system. With hundreds of billions of icy bodies believed to reside within, the Oort Cloud plays a crucial role in producing long-period comets that occasionally visit our planet.
The study’s findings indicate that the inner Oort Cloud exhibits a spiral structure approximately 15,000 AU in length. This long-lived feature is thought to persist due to gravitational forces within and beyond the solar system. However, direct observational detection of this spiral remains challenging due to its immense distance from Earth.
While previous research has suggested that the Oort Cloud may contain remnants of our solar system’s planets, formed over four billion years ago, the new model provides further insight into the cloud’s structure and evolution. With ongoing advancements in computational power and modeling techniques, scientists continue to unravel the secrets of the Oort Cloud, shedding light on its mysterious nature and potential role in shaping our cosmic environment.
Source: https://www.ndtv.com/science/mini-galaxy-on-fringes-of-solar-system-hidden-in-mysterious-icy-cloud-found-study-7793316