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Realeron t1_j810e61 wrote

Reply to comment by r2k-in-the-vortex in Why is the Oort cloud spherical? by Outliver

Good answer. That thing is so distant that it seems to exist only in our fertile imagination

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r2k-in-the-vortex t1_j811pds wrote

It's not a bad hypothesis at all, there is solid basis to proposing that it exists, its just that how would you go about confirming it?

The logic is that comets are inherently not a stable phenomena, a single comet can't keep going for geological time periods. So somehow you need to have a mechanism for new comets to appear, there needs to be some sort of reservoir of potential comets yet to become comets. If you do a bit of statistics based on that idea you end up with the model of Oort cloud that we have now.

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Realeron t1_j818xc9 wrote

Great point. Thanks for bringing it up

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UnarmedSnail t1_j82yd40 wrote

The Sun's gravity scoops up debris from the interstellar medium. I bet some of it gets captured in the Oort cloud.

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