There is more out there, but where and how much more? In the 1950’s Jan Oort (pr

Question

There is more out there, but where and how much more?

In the 1950’s Jan Oort (pronounced: yaan ort) hypothesized a zone even further out in the solar system. This zone would explain a special class of comets called long-period comets. These comets take longer than 200 years to orbit the Sun.  This theoretical zone is called the Oort Cloud. It is theoretical because even though there is evidence for its existence, no one has seen an Oort Cloud object other than a few comets thought to have come from this zone.  The Oort Cloud is thought to be a cloudy sphere of icy bodies around the entire solar system. It is believed to extend between 5,000 and 100,000 AU. 100,000 AU is almost 2 light-years away from Earth!

This means it takes nearly two full Earth years for light to reach this zone from the Sun. To compare, light travels from the Sun to Earth in just eight minutes!

Let’s revisit the comparison of speeds of small worlds. Think about how much slower the Oort Cloud objects may move compared to Earth.

Question: If the Oort Cloud is at a distance of 5,000 – 100,000 AU, how slow would these objects be moving compared to Earth?

0.0002 to 0.00001

0.02 to 0.001

0.2 to 0.1

5 to 10

0.0002 to 0.00001

0.02 to 0.001

0.2 to 0.1

5 to 10

Explanation / Answer

If the Oort Cloud is at a distance of 5000 to 100000 AU in this case the objects to be moving slowly about 0.02 to 0.001 light years compared to the earth.

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