Reassessing the Source of Long-Period Comets

2009/07/31 by Nathan A. Kaib, Thomas Quinn · 104 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Comet #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Extinction event #Giant planet #Interstellar comet #Jupiter (rocket family) #Observable #Period (music) #Physics #Planet #Planetary Science and Exploration #Planetary system #Population #Spacecraft #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.EP

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1172676

published in Science 325(5945), 1234-1236 (American Association for the Advancement of Science) · Originally published in Science (9/4/09), 30 pages, 9 figures, main article and online material combined

openalex publication_date 2009/07/31 · arxiv created 2009/12/09 · arxiv updated 2014/11/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Inside Oort Long-period comets are thought to come from the outermost region of the solar system, the Oort Cloud, where a large number of icy bodies orbit the Sun. Outer Oort Cloud bodies are more likely to penetrate the inner planetary region of the solar system as comets, because they experience stronger external gravitational perturbations. Inner Oort Cloud bodies, by contrast, are thought to be ejected before they reach observable orbits. Using numerical simulations that followed the orbital histories of bodies in the inner Oort Cloud, Kaib and Quinn (p. 1234 , published online 30 July 2009; see the Perspective by Duncan ) identified a dynamical pathway that allows comets in the inner Oort Cloud to move to the outer Oort Cloud, where they can be perturbed and enter the visible region in great numbers. According to this mechanism, the amount of mass in this region is consistent with the material needed to form the giant planets.

Citations

• Origin of the cataclysmic Late Heavy Bombardment period of the terrestrial planets
• Comet showers and the steady-state infall of comets from the Oort cloud
• Oligarchic growth of giant planets
• Discovery of a Candidate Inner Oort Cloud Planetoid
• Recent Warming Reverses Long-Term Arctic Cooling
• Embedded star clusters and the formation of the Oort Cloud
• The fundamental role of the Oort cloud in determining the flux of comets through the planetary system

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• Sedna and the cloud of comets surrounding the solar system in Milgromian dynamics
• PROPERTIES OF THE DISTANT KUIPER BELT: RESULTS FROM THE PALOMAR DISTANT SOLAR SYSTEM SURVEY