The Oort Cloud...and Comets too!

Below: Map of the Oort Cloud

The Oort Cloud - not to be confused with:

"Our Remaining Tidbits"

...as in the Merrowvista "ort report"

"Ooh, Aah, Ort Report, I say Ooh, Aah, Ort Report, Woo, Woo."

Above: Jan Hendrik Oort, (1900 - 1992), Dutch

(He discovered the Oort Cloud in 1950)

FYI - Comets are nicknamed: "Dirty Snowballs" or Long-Haired Stars." Comets were historically believed to be bad omens: (If a comet appeared in the sky, then bad times were coming.) Click here: Comet Superstition and Lore Below: Chinese silk painting (First Comet Ever Recorded) Below: The Egyptian Comet God The Greeks were the first to ever record Halley's Comet in 466 B.C.

Click here: Comet Missions and Space Exploration

Above: First Ever Photograph of a Comet: Comet Wild

Below: Artist's Concept of Comet Wild and Stardust

Carolyn Shoemaker holds the world record for discovering the most comets (32).	Comet Shoemaker-Levy makes Impact with Jupiter

Below: Beach at Night with Comet McNaught, Fireworks, and Lightning

Click here: Award-Winning Comet Photo (Enlarged)

Below: Comet tails can extend for millions of miles in space.

Coma (frozen comet core)

Dust Tail and Ion Tail (electrically charged atoms),

Click here: The Oort Cloud / Comet / Anatomy of a Comet / Comets

FYI: The "tail" of a comet always points away from the sun.

Parts of a Comet: Coma, Nucleus, Head, Dust Tail, Ion (Gas) Tail

Below: Comet Hale-Bopp

Below: Comet Hyakutaki

Below: Halley's Comet

Comets move in highly elliptical orbits as shown above.

Below: Chart of Annual (comet debris) Meteor Showers