They detect a spiral structure, similar to a “mini galaxy”, in the limits of the solar systems, within the Oort cloud

A spiral structure of huge dimensions seems to be floating inside the internal part of the Oort cloud, researchers of the Southwest Research Institute, in Texas, and the American Museum of Natural History. This region that wraps to the Solar System is so large and is made up of so many fragments that much of it remains hidden. For now, it is only possible to understand its form through models created with supercomputers.

What is Oort’s cloud?

If the solar system is a large space dish, Oort’s cloud is the shell that surrounds it. It is composed of small fragments of frozen rock that move in a coordinated manner, such as swarm around the planets, as the sun progresses by the Milky Way. As far as astronomers have knowledge, it is the last part of the solar system. Beyond the cloud, interstellar space begins, the road to connect with another star.

All the planets, next to the sun, seem tiny compared to the Oort region. To measure its proportion, science uses astronomical units (UA), where a UA is equivalent to the distance between Earth and the Sun (approximately 150 million kilometers). The solar system measures between 30 and 50 UA, while the Oort cloud starts from 2,000 UA and extends to 100,000 UA.

What hides Oort’s cloud

Science is not certain of how the billion rocks that make up this great region are grouped, but has begun to visualize the phenomena that can occur inside. The last study, which is waiting to be published in Earth and Planetary AstrophysicsHe mentions that the first part of the cloud could house a pair of spiral arms.

Although the gravitational force of the sun and the planets is responsible for the cloud, each component that integrates it is also subject to external influences of deep space. The Milky Way influences the rocks of the Oort cloud through a phenomenon known as Galactic tide. The strength of the galaxy is relatively weak compared to that exerted by the main star, but, occasionally, it causes a frozen rock to separate from swarm and become a comet of long period.

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Experts claim that galactic tide also has the potential to transform and order the internal cloud environment. A behavior model that took into account the known variables, and that was executed in a NASA supercomputer, revealed that rock assemblies can be grouped into arms, in the same way that the stars sets are structured in a spiral galaxy.

The model predicts that within the Oort cloud a spiral disc of 15,000 UA in diameter will be formed, inclined 30 degrees with respect to the ecliptic line (the plane in which all the planets are grouped). Since there is no way to directly observe the structure, more simulations are necessary to understand the shape of the shell that surrounds the solar system.