Abstract:Jan Hendrik Oort hypothesized the existence of a distant cloud of cometary objects that orbit the Sun based on a spike in the reciprocal orbital separation at 1∕a ≲ 10−4 au−1. The Oort cloud is the source of long-period comets, but has not been observed directly, and its origin remains theoretical. Theories on its origin evoke a sequence of events that have been tested individually but never as a consistent chronology. We present a chronology of the formation and early evolution of the Oort cloud, and test t… Show more
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