A recent study has uncovered a surprising spiral structure within the Oort Cloud, a vast field of icy debris extending out to 100,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. The finding, published in The Astrophysical Journal, reveals that the galactic tides exerted by the Milky Way galaxy have shaped this distant region.
Researchers led by astronomer David Nesvorný used NASA’s Pleiades Supercomputer to simulate the Oort Cloud over a 4.6 billion-year period. Their simulations suggest that the inner Oort Cloud has a spiral structure, similar to the Milky Way galaxy, with a diameter of around 15,000 astronomical units and an inclination of 30 degrees from the ecliptic plane.
This discovery challenges previous assumptions about the shape of the inner Oort Cloud, which was thought to be a more-or-less flat disk. The spiral structure is long-lived and persists to this day, making it difficult to detect directly but fitting existing observation data.
Unraveling the mysteries of the Oort Cloud requires examining the Solar System’s distant past and understanding the influences at play during its formation and evolution. This study marks an important step forward in our understanding of the Oort Cloud and its role in shaping the long-period comets that originate from it.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/surprise-spiral-shape-revealed-in-the-darkness-surrounding-the-solar-system