The Oort cloud
shell of icy bodies · source of long-period comets
2,000 to 100,000 AU from the Sun
Trillions of comet nuclei surround the Sun out to a light-year or more, a third of the way to the nearest star. None has ever been seen directly.
- outer edge ~100,000 AU (1.6 light-years)
- a comet from here takes millions of years per orbit
Numbers that change with time are from 10 November 2026.
open the Oort cloud in the atlas ›- kind
- place in the Solar System
More places in the Solar System
- the Solar System our planetary system
- the Sun G2V main-sequence star
- Mercury rocky planet
- Venus rocky planet
- Earth rocky planet
- Tranquility Base Apollo 11 landing site on the Moon
- Apollo 12 landing site in the Ocean of Storms, on the Moon
- Apollo 14 landing site at Fra Mauro, on the Moon