ASTROPHYSICS

The Solar System

Introduction
⚫ The Solar System
− Sun, Planets, Dwarf planets, Satellites, Small Bodies
Introduction
Introduction
⚫ The Solar System
− https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vQJez9iiS7Y
ASTROPHYSICS
The Solar System I

The planets
The Planets
⚫ Definition of Planet according to The International Astronomical Union (IAU):
⚫ IAU defined in August 2006 that, in the Solar System, a planet is a celestial body which:
1) Is in orbit around the Sun,
2) Has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape),
3) Has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.
Mercury
• Eccentric orbit (e=0.21)
– Distance 0.31 – 0.47 AU
– Most extreme temperature variation in the solar system
• Spin-orbit coupling:
– Orbit 59 days; rotation 88 days
– Three rotations every two orbits
• Only planet without atmosphere
• No satellites

• Mariner 10 (‘74)
• MESSENGER (‘08)
• BepiColombo (‘18)
Venus
• Always covered by clouds
• Permanent greenhouse effect
• Rotation period is 243 days. 225 days to orbit around
the Sun → Days are longer than years
• “Rain” is actually sulphuric acid
• More volcanoes than any other planet,
but no plate tectonic activity
• No satellites

• Mariner 2 (‘62)
• >40 spacecraft
• currently Akatsuki
Earth & Moon
⚫ Can be considered a double planet
− Relative size of moon / planet is larger
than for any other satellite
− Formed probably after an impact of an
object on proto-Earth during the formation
of the Solar System

⚫ Earth
− Plate tectonics, continental drift
⚫ Atlantic ocean growing at the speed of your nails!
− Atmosphere has not the original composition: most of the oxygen is caused by
organic activity.
⚫ Moon
− Locked orbit (always faces the same side)
− Two faces (mare are only on the side facing Earth)
− No atmosphere
− The center of mass is 2.5km away from the geometrical center

⚫ Luna 1 (’59) ⚫ Beresheet (’19) (tardigrades…)

⚫ Apollo, 12/24 astronauts on Moon ’69-’72 ⚫ currently Chandrayaan-3

⚫ <‘76: 65. >’76: 6 landings. ⚫ planned: Artemis

Mars
⚫ Diameter half of Earth, Rotation axis tilted 25º, almost same as Earth
− Martian day: 24h30m, only half an hour longer than on Earth
− Seasons
⚫ Atmosphere similar to Earth – Heavy dust storms when closer to Sun
⚫ No active volcanoes, no plate tectonics
− Largest volcano, Olympus Mons, is 20km high
⚫ Large canyons
− Valles Marineris is 5000km long, 200km wide, 6km deep
⚫ Two moons: Phobos & Deimos
⚫

⚫ Mariner 4 (‘65)
⚫ dozens of missions
⚫ “The only known planet in the Universe to be entirely inhabited by robots.”
− currently Curiosity, Perseverance, Zhurong
Jupiter
⚫ Its mass is 2.5 the mass of all other planets
⚫ Iron/nickel core. The bulk is hydrogen/helium
⚫ Great red spot, a huge cyclone active for (at least) centuries
⚫ Jupiter radiates twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun
− Residuals from its gravitational contraction – Still cooling down
⚫ Intense radiation belt (Jupiter has auroras)
⚫ Numerous satellites (79)
− Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto (Galilean moons),...
− Owing to tidal forces Io, Europe and Ganymede are locked in resonance, so that
their longitudes follow λ (Io) - 3 λ (Europa) + 2 λ (Ganymede) = 180°

⚫ Pioneer 10 (’73)
⚫ Galileo (’95-’03)
⚫ Juno (’16)
⚫ JUICE: launched ’23
Saturn
• 10xEarth diameter, 100xEarth mass, but would float on water
• Winds & clouds explained by internal heat, “differentiation of helium”
• 82 Moons
– Mimas, moon with a huge crater
– Titan, the only moon with dense atmosphere
• Ring system
– Made mostly of small icy particles with sizes from microns to few meters
– Locked in position by gravitational influence of moons
– Formed as debris of some catastrophic event(s)
– (All four Jovian planets have rings)

• Pioneer 11 (‘79), Voyager 1 & 2

• Cassini (‘04-’17)
Uranus
• Discovered in 1781
• Distance 19 AU, rotation period 84 years, axis inclination 98º
• Rocky core – Bulk is a warm “ocean” of water and ammonia –
Surrounded by hydrogen, helium, methane atmosphere.
- Possibly ocean of liquid diamonds flowing on the bulk.
• Ring system
• More than 25 moons

• Voyager 2 flyby (‘86)

Neptune
• Predicted by perturbations in the orbit of Uranus
• Discovered in 1846: great triumph of Newtonian theory of gravitation
• Distance 30 AU, rotation period 165 years
• Ring system
• Has >10 moons

• Voyager 2 flyby (‘89)

Planet Comparison: Sizes to Scale
Planet Rotation and Axes
The Structure of the Planets
⚫ Terrestrial Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars)
− Solid surface
− Almost equal size (diameters from 5000 to 12,000 km)
− Have quite a high mean density (4000−5000 kg m−3)

⚫ Giant Planets (Jupiter Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)

(Saturn would float on water!)
− The densities are about 1000−2000 kg m−3.
− Most of their volume is liquid/gas
− Diameters are ten times greater than those of the terrestrial planets.

⚫ Because they rotate, they are all slightly deformed.

The Structure of the Planets
⚫ Terrestrial planets have an iron-nickel core, covered by a silicate mantle
⚫ Giant planets have a small solid nucleus surrounded by “ices”, metallic hydrogen,
a layer of molecular hydrogen and an atmosphere

⚫ Plate tectonics is only active on Earth

⚫ Volcanoes have been seen in Venus and Mars
⚫ Climate is also present in Venus and Mars
The Magnetosphere
⚫ Region of space surrounding an astronomical object in which charged particles are
manipulated or affected by that object's magnetic field.
⚫ Earth: Caused by the dynamo effect of liquid iron in the core
⚫ Polarity is known to have changed over geologic timescales

⚫ Interaction between magnetosphere and solar wind

(Solar wind: 10 particles/cm3 at 400 km/s)
⚫ van Allen belt: region with trapped charged particles
⚫ Falling into atmosphere → Auroras
Views from Various Worlds
ASTROPHYSICS
The Solar System I

Dwarf planets

Solar system exploration

Smaller bodies
The Planets
⚫ Definition of Planet according to The International Astronomical Union (IAU):
⚫ IAU defined in August 2006 that, in the Solar System, a planet is a celestial body which:
1) Is in orbit around the Sun,
2) Has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape),
3) Has "cleared the neighborhood" around its orbit.
Dwarf Planets
⚫ A celestial body that...
− Orbits around the Sun
− Has sufficient mass to reach hydrostatic equilibrium (i.e, gets round shape)
− Has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit
− It's not a moon

⚫ Current team members: 5

Dwarf Planets
⚫ Current team members: 5
− Pluto
⚫ Originally classified as planet, but is too different...
⚫ Maybe a binary dwarf planet? Pluto-Charon
⚫ New Horizons (‘15)
− Eris
⚫ Trans-neptunian object and happened to be larger than Pluto
⚫ Turned out to be one of many. If they were planets... too many!
− Ceres
⚫ Originally counted as an asteroid between Mars & Jupiter, but too big
⚫ Dawn mission (‘18)
− Haumea
⚫ Trans-neptunian object, discovered in ‘04
− Makemake
⚫ Trans-neptunian object, discovered in ‘05
Hubble Space Telescope (upper & center)
and New Horizons Probe (lower)
Destinations in the Solar System
The five hottest destinations for future wo/manned missions

1. The Moon
• Nearby
• Well-known
• Natural resources (minerals etc.)
• Ideal base for more distant missions
Destinations in the Solar System
2. Mars
Pros:
• “Similar” to Earth: day length, atmosphere, diameter, seasons
• Water reserves
• Nearby
Cons:
• Radiation exposure, thin atmosphere, low gravity
Destinations in the Solar System
3. Europa
• Jupiter’s fourth-largest satellite
• Warm liquid water ocean under its surface
☆ The place in the solar system most probable for life to have already developed
Destinations in the Solar System
4. Titan
• Saturn’s largest satellite
• Atmosphere – Rich in nitrogen
• Methane lakes, rivers – “Methane cycle”
→ Most distant landing so far: Cassini spacecraft’s Huygens lander
Destinations in the Solar System
5. Ceres
• Dwarf planet in the asteroid belt
• Nearby
• Saltwater ocean under its surface
• Thin atmosphere
+ Dawn mission (‘18)
Destinations in the Solar System
The five hottest destinations for future wo/manned missions

The Moon
Mars
Europa
Titan
Ceres

… But should we have wo/manned missions?

• Two opinions
Asteroids
⚫ Scattered group of small bodies orbiting around the Sun
⚫ From icy-like to hard rocky bodies
⚫ Most of them between Mars and Jupiter (asteroid belt)
⚫ Debris of primordial bodies that never formed a planet due to Jupiter's tidal forces?
⚫ Some are locked in the Lagrangian points: Trojan asteroids
Asteroids
⚫ Asteroids in space: not how you imagine
− The average distance between asteroids in the asteroid belt is about 106 km.
This is about 2.5 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. That is a
lot of space between two neighboring asteroids!
 Asteroids
⚫ Jupiter influences the asteroids.
⚫ There are gaps in the asteroid 'belt'
where there are few asteroids (known
as Kirkwood gaps).
⚫ Consider a circular orbit of 5.93 years
(½ of Jupiter's period). Once every two
orbits the asteroid is directly between
Jupiter and the Sun. This ejects the
asteroid from its 5.93 year orbit.
⚫ In fact any small integer ratio of the
periods forms an orbital resonance
which clears that orbital radius.
Asteroids
⚫ Asteroids can hit the Earth

⚫ In 1908 a stony asteroid hit in Siberia near Tunguska.

The asteroid is believed to have exploded before
reaching the ground at an altitude of 7 km. The
explosion released the equivalent of 1015 joules of
energy or a blast the size of a several hundred kilotons
nuclear bomb.

⚫ The event is thought to have been from a asteroid 80m

in diameter and traveling at a speed of 22 km/s

⚫ In 2013 a 15m asteroid with a mass of 10,000 tons

entered the atmosphere over Russia. It fell into a lake
(Chebarkul) but the blast wave cause extensive
damage in the area. It is the largest strike since the
Tunguska event.
Asteroids
⚫ Asteroids can hit the Earth
⚫ The element iridium is common in asteroids but rare on
Earth.
⚫ Luis Alvarez and his son Walter discovered in the
1970s that a thin layer in the geological record shows
an exceptionally high level of iridium.
⚫ This layer corresponds to a time 65 million years ago
when the dinosaurs suddenly became extinct.
⚫ In 1992 a team of geologist suggested a 180 km
diameter crater near the north coast of the Yucatan in
Mexico was the impact that killed the dinosaurs.
⚫ A major strike by an asteroid could cause very serious
damage to a city, country or even the entire Earth as
the one that wiped out the dinosaurs shows. A large
strike could throw up 1013 kg of dust which could block
out the Sun and cause a worldwide perpetual winter
night and threaten civilization.
Gravity anomaly map of the Chicxulub impact
area. The coastline is shown as a white line. A
series of concentric features reveals the location of
the crater. White dots represent cenotes (water-
filled sinkholes). A ring of cenotes is associated
with the largest semicircular feature, although its
exact origin remains unclear.
Asteroids
⚫ Asteroids can hit the Earth
⚫ The element iridium is common in asteroids but rare on
Earth.
⚫ Luis Alvarez and his son Walter discovered in the
1970s that a thin layer in the geological record shows
an exceptionally high level of iridium.
⚫ This layer corresponds to a time 65 million years ago
when the dinosaurs suddenly became extinct.
⚫ In 1992 a team of geologist suggested a 180 km
diameter crater near the north coast of the Yucatan in
Mexico was the impact that killed the dinosaurs.
⚫ A major strike by an asteroid could cause very serious
damage to a city, country or even the entire Earth as
the one that wiped out the dinosaurs shows. A large
strike could throw up 1013 kg of dust which could block
out the Sun and cause a worldwide perpetual winter
night and threaten civilization.
⚫ “Asteroids are nature's way of asking: 'How's that space
program coming along?'" - Neil deGrasse Tyson
Kuiper Belt
▪ Both Arrokoth and Pluto are in the Kuiper Belt – a donut-shaped region of icy bodies
beyond the orbit of Neptune.

▪ Similar to the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt is a region of leftovers from the solar
system's early history.

▪ Like asteroid belt, it has also been shaped by a giant planet, although it's more of a
thick disk than a thin belt.

▪ There may be millions of these

icy objects, collectively referred
to as Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs)
or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs),
in this distant region of the solar system.

Arrokoth
by New Horizons probe
Oort Cloud
▪ The most distant region of our solar system. Even the nearest objects in the Oort
Cloud are thought to be many times farther from the Sun than the outer reaches of
the Kuiper Belt.

▪ Unlike the orbits of the planets and the Kuiper Belt, which lie mostly in the same flat
disk around the Sun, the Oort Cloud is believed to be a giant spherical shell
surrounding the rest of the solar system. It is like a big, thick-walled bubble made of
icy pieces of space debris the sizes of mountains and sometimes larger. The Oort
Cloud might contain billions, or even trillions, of objects.
Comets
⚫ “Dirty Snowballs”
⚫ Comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of
the solar system composed of dust, rock and
ices. They range from a few km to tens of km
wide, but as they orbit closer to the sun, they
heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing
head that can be larger than a planet. This
material forms a tail that stretches millions of
miles.
⚫ Remnants of the Oort Cloud or the Kuiper Belt
⚫ If two or more objects there collide, one of them
may change trajectory and enter the inner
(planetary) regions of the solar system
− Long Period Comets: can take up to 30
million years to complete one orbit
− Short period Comets: less than few hundred
years periods
⚫ Pushed inside the solar system by
interactions with planets (e.g., Jupiter)
Comets
⚫ Structure of a comet:
− Nucleus (solid rock, ice, and metals)
− Coma (atmosphere created by sublimation of the ice when approaching the Sun)
− Dust Tail (pushed by Sun radiation pressure, pointing away from the sun)
− Ion/gas Tail (pushed by solar wind, pointing away from the sun)
Meteoroids
⚫ A meteoroid is a piece of rock or metal like an asteroid.
⚫ A meteor is a brief flash of light as a meteoroid burns up in the atmosphere, a
'shooting star'.
− These fast-moving meteoroids are often heated to 3000 K. Usually completely
burn up in the atmosphere.
⚫ If a piece of the meteoroid is large enough to not completely burn up and to fall to
the surface, it is called a meteorite.
Comets x Meteoroids
⚫ Meteor Showers

⚫ When a comet 'burns out' leaving pebbles and dust, the remaining material can result
in a seasonal meteor shower. If the comet has only recently ended its life, the
fragments will be concentrated along the original orbit of the comet. Over time the
debris will spread out over the original orbit. When Earth's orbit intersects this ring of
material, we see a meteor shower.
Comets x Meteoroids
⚫ Meteor Showers

− The paths of the meteors appear to converge in one point of the sky (called the
radiant), since they all originate from the same point of space and perspective
does the rest.
(Similar to the rays of rain when you look up the sky.)
− Meteor showers typically take the
name of the constellation where its
radiant is located.
Interplanetary Dust
⚫ Cosmic dust (small particles floating in
outer space) that pervades the space
between planets.

⚫ The particle sizes of grains near Earth's

orbit typically range 10–100 μm.

⚫ The total mass of the interplanetary dust

cloud is approximately the mass of an
asteroid of radius 15 km.

⚫ Zodiacal Light: The interplanetary dust

particles have a role in scattering
sunlight and in emitting thermal
radiation. This dust cloud is visible as
the zodiacal light in a moonless and
naturally dark sky and is best seen
sunward during twilight.
Solar Wind
⚫ The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere
of the Sun, called the corona.

⚫ Plasma with mostly electrons, protons and alpha particles. Also trace amounts of
heavy ions and atomic nuclei.

⚫ The interplanetary magnetic field is embedded within the solar-wind plasma.

⚫ The solar wind particles can escape

the Sun's gravity because of their
high energy resulting from the high
temperature of the corona.

⚫ At a distance of more than a few

solar radii from the Sun, the solar
wind reaches speeds of 250–750
km/s and is supersonic.
Solar Wind
⚫ Phenomena related with Solar wind:
− Auroras (northern and southern lights)

− Comet tails
− Geomagnetic Storms
⚫ The Carrington Event was a powerful geomagnetic storm in September 1859.
The storm caused strong auroral displays and disrupted telegraph systems.

⚫ A solar storm of this magnitude occurring today

would cause widespread electrical disruptions,
blackouts, and damage due to extended outages
of the electrical grid. A solar storm of 2012 was of
similar magnitude, but it passed Earth's orbit
without striking the planet, missing by nine days.
 ASTROPHYSICS
The Solar System I

Origin of the solar system

Origin of the Solar System
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ A model to explain the origin of the solar system must also explain the following:
− All planets orbit in the same plane, parallel to the equator of the Sun
− Orbits are almost circular
− Planets orbit counterclockwise, which is also the direction of rotation of the Sun
− Planets have 98% of angular momentum but only 0.15% total mass
− Differences between terrestrial and jovian planets
− The structure of satellite systems resembles that of the Solar system in miniature
⚫ Rocks and meteorites suggested age of the solar system is 4.6x109 years

⚫ At the beginning...
− Cloud of gas and dust
− Formed from the elements from previous generation of stars
⚫ Abundance of elements heavier than helium
− Eventually exceeded “Jeans mass” limit and collapses
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ (a) The original cloud of gas
and dust contracts
⚫ (b) the cloud becomes a
disk via angular momentum
conservation
⚫ (c) condensation nuclei starts
forming the planetesimals.
Fusion starts in the protoSun,
differentiating the regions
⚫ (d) The solar wind blows out
the rest of the gas and fine
dust towards the edges of the
proto-solar system. Rocky
cores form nearby, whereas
icy core form far away
⚫ (e) Planetesimals collide and
grow to form the planets
⚫ (f) Planetesimals form the
basic planets
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ Comparing theories and observations (of the origin of other stellar systems, ofc...)

ALMA observations of the star

Artist's Impression HL Tau and its protoplanetary disk
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ Presolar Nebula
− – According to the nebular hypothesis, the solar system formed from a fragment of a giant
molecular cloud. Initially 20 pc large, a shock wave from a nearby supernova 4.5 billion
years ago may have triggered instabilities that fragmented it into clumps of few pc that later
further collapsed into dense cores 0.01–0.1 pc (2,000–20,000 AU). One of these would be
the presolar nebula, which would form the solar system.

− – The Sun formed within a cluster of between 1000 and 10000 stars with diameters of
between 6.5 - 19.5 light years and a collective mass of 3,000 M. This began to break apart
between 100 and 500 million years after formation.

− – Conservation of angular momentum: the nebula spins faster as it collapses. As the

material within the nebula condensed, the atoms within it began to collide with increasing
frequency, converting their kinetic energy into heat.

− – The center, where most of the mass is, became hotter than the surrounding disc. Over
100,000 years, the forces of gravity, gas pressure, magnetic fields, and rotation caused the
contracting nebula to flatten into a spinning protoplanetary disc with diameter of about 200
AU and form a hot, dense protostar (a star in which hydrogen fusion has not yet begun) at
the centre.

− – In 50 million years, the temperature and pressure at the core of the Sun became so great
that its hydrogen began to fuse, creating an internal source of energy countering
gravitational contraction until hydrostatic equilibrium.
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ Formation of the Planets
− – Current theory is that planets were formed from gas and dust leftovers from the Sun's
formation.

− – Planets formed by accretion. Dust grains in orbit around the central protostar formed into
clumps up to 200m in diameter, which in turn collided to form larger bodies (planetesimals)
of ~10 km in size. These gradually increased through further collisions, growing at the rate
of centimetres per year over the course of the next few million years.

− – The inner Solar System, the region of the Solar System inside 4 AU, was too warm, so
the planetesimals that formed there could only form from compounds with high melting
points, such as metals (like iron, nickel, and aluminium) and rocky silicates. These rocky
bodies would become the terrestrial planets. These compounds are quite rare in the
Universe, comprising only 0.6% of the mass of the nebula, so the terrestrial planets could
not grow very large.

− – The giant planets formed further out, where the material is cool enough for volatile icy
compounds to remain solid. The ices that formed the Jovian planets were more abundant,
allowing the giant planets to grow massive enough to capture hydrogen and helium, the
lightest and most abundant elements.

− – After between three and ten million years, the young Sun's solar wind would have cleared
away all the gas and dust in the protoplanetary disc, blowing it into interstellar space, thus
ending the growth of the planets.
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ Subsequent Evolution
− The region between 2 and 4 AU from the Sun contained more than enough matter to form
2–3 Earth-like planets, and, indeed, a large number of planetesimals formed there.
However, resonances with the orbits of Jupiter caused the planetesimals to shatter, rather
than accreting, preventing the formation of a planet.

− Some of those massive embryos too were ejected by Jupiter, while others may have
migrated to the inner Solar System and played a role in the final accretion of the terrestrial
planets.

− Water, too volatile to have been present in the inner Solar system, may have been
delivered by planetary embryos and small planetesimals thrown out of the asteroid belt by
Jupiter.
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ Planet Migration
− – When the terrestrial planets were forming, they remained immersed in a disk of gas and
dust. The gas was partially supported by pressure and so did not orbit the Sun as rapidly
as the planets. The resulting drag and, more importantly, gravitational interactions with the
surrounding material caused a transfer of angular momentum, and as a result the planets
gradually migrated inwards to new orbits as the disk dissipated, leaving the planets in their
current orbits.

− – According to some models, Uranus and Neptune are too far, in a region where the
original nebula wouldn't have enough material for them to form. The two are instead
thought to have formed in orbits near Jupiter and Saturn, where more material was
available, and to have migrated outward to their current positions over hundreds of millions
of years

− – According to the Nice model, about 4 billion years ago Jupiter and Saturn fell into a 2:1
resonance: Saturn orbited the Sun once for every two Jupiter orbits. This resonance
created a gravitational push against the outer planets, possibly causing Neptune to surge
past Uranus. The planets scattered the majority of the small icy bodies inwards, while
themselves moving outwards. This process continued until the planetesimals interacted
with Jupiter, whose immense gravity sent them into highly elliptical orbits, forming the Oort
cloud.

− – Objects scattered to a lesser degree by the migrating Neptune formed the current Kuiper
belt and scattered disc.
Origin of the Solar System
⚫ How did Earth's Moon form?
− Facts:
⚫ The Moon surface was once molten
⚫ The Moon has a small iron core
⚫ The Moon has lower density than Earth
⚫ Stable isotopes on Earth and Moon are
equal, suggesting a common origin
− Theory:
⚫ A collision of Theia, a body the size
of Mars, with Earth
⚫ The body could have been forming in the Lagrange points but, after accreting, may
have become unstable and hit Earth
− Pros:
⚫ In agreement with all the facts above
⚫ Collisions were apparently common during the formation of the Solar System
− Cons:
⚫ Suggests Earth surface was at some point a sea of lava
⚫ Why doesn’t Venus have a moon from similar collision events?
Many Open Questions!
⚫ How did giant planets really migrate?
⚫ Why does Uranus rotate on its side?
⚫ Why does the population of Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) suddenly drop off at a
distance of 50 AU from the Sun? Is there a Planet 9 swiping them?
⚫ Why does Titan (Saturn's moon) have an atmosphere so similar to Earth?
− Titan’s atmosphere is only one and a half times thicker than Earth’s, plus it is
mainly composed of nitrogen (at 95% composition, cf Earth, at 80%). Plus its
surface is crammed full with hydrocarbons. Add to this the electrical activity in the
Titan atmosphere and we have an incredible moon with a massive potential for
life to evolve...
⚫ Pioneer Anomaly: Both probes were experiencing an unexpected Sun-ward
acceleration, pushing them off-course. What is causing it?
⚫ Does the Oort cloud really exist?
− The Oort cloud is too far to be directly detected and, in fact, the only reason why
astronomers believe the Oort Cloud exists, is the source of long-period icy
comets which have highly eccentric orbits, emanating from regions out of the
ecliptic plane. This also suggests that the cloud surrounds the Solar System and
is not confined to a belt around the ecliptic.