The Oort cloud is is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets which may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun. This places the cloud at nearly a quarter of the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. The Kuiper belt and scattered disc, the other two reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects, are less than one thousandth the Oort cloud's distance. The outer extent of the Oort cloud defines the gravitational boundary of our Solar System.
The Oort cloud is thought to comprise two separate regions: a spherical outer Oort cloud and a disc-shaped inner Oort cloud, or Hills cloud. Objects in the Oort cloud are largely composed of ices, such as water, ammonia, and methane. Astronomers believe that the matter composing the Oort cloud formed closer to the Sun and was scattered far out into space by the gravitational effects of the giant planets early in the Solar System's evolution.
Although no confirmed direct observations of the Oort cloud have been made, astronomers believe that it is the source of all long-period and Halley-type comets entering the inner Solar System and many of the Centaurs and Jupiter-family comets as well. The outer Oort cloud is only loosely bound to the Solar System, and thus is easily affected by the gravitational pull both of passing stars and of the Milky Way Galaxy itself. These forces occasionally dislodge comets from their orbits within the cloud and send them towards the inner Solar System. Based on their orbits, most of the short-period comets may come from the scattered disc, but some may still have originated from the Oort cloud. Although the Kuiper belt and the farther scattered disc have been observed and mapped, only four currently known trans-Neptunian objects—90377 Sedna, 2000 CR105, 2006 SQ372, and 2008 KV42—are considered possible members of the inner Oort cloud.
Fiction[]
Thunder Force V / Thunder Force V: Perfect System[]
In 2106, a weapon made by an alien intelligence was discovered orbiting the Solar System beyond Pluto.
It was named "Vastian's Steel" or "Vasteel"
- Thunder Force V: Perfect System's Opening Narration
Space Probe "Sekika" exploring the Oort cloud in 2106
The Oort cloud played a role in the history of the Thunder Force Series, right after the events of Thunder Force IV, the Fire LEO-04 "Rynex" end up drifting in space for a long period of time, in a twist of fate it reached our Solar System, entering the Oort Cloud, passing unnoticed until the human race discovered it in the year 2106 of the Christian era, the Space Probe Sekika 3 found the Rynex during the study of the cloud, the ship was named "Vastian's Steel" or "Vasteel" for short.