Related papers: Characterizing Extra-solar Oort Clouds with Submil…
Recent observations of small bodies of the Solar System showed evidence of the presence of refractory (asteroidal) material in the Oort cloud. Different models of the origin of the Solar System predict different numbers of rocky objects in…
In this chapter we review the properties of the Orion outlying clouds at b < -21 degrees. These clouds are located far off the Orion giant molecular cloud complex and are in most cases small cometary-shaped clouds, with their head pointing…
Using all the RXTE archival data of Sco X-1 and GX 5-1, which amount to about 1.6 mega seconds in total, we searched for possible occultation events caused by Oort Cloud Objects. The detection efficiency of our searching approach was…
The Oort Cloud Comets (OCCs), exemplified by the Great Comet of 1997 (Hale-Bopp), are occasional visitors from the heatless periphery of the solar system. Previous works hypothesized that a great majority of OCCs must physically disrupt…
We develop an evolutionary model of the long-period comet (LPC) population, starting from their birthplace in a massive trans-Neptunian disk that was dispersed by migrating giant planets. Most comets that remain bound to the Solar system…
The Oort cloud and the scattered disk are the two primary reservoirs for long-period and short-period comets, respectively. In this review, we assess the known observational constraints on these reservoirs' properties and their formation.…
Comets are pristine remnants of the Solar system, composed of dust and ice. They remain inactive and undetectable for most of their orbit due to low temperatures. However, as they approach the Sun, volatile materials sublimate, expelling…
Exo-zodiacal dust, exozodi for short, is warm (~300K) or hot (up to ~2000K) dust found in the inner regions of planetary systems around main sequence stars. In analogy to our own zodiacal dust, it may be located in or near the habitable…
The study of comets affords a unique window into the birth, infancy, and subsequent history of the solar system. There is strong evidence that comets incorporated pristine interstellar material as well as processed nebular matter, providing…
As comets journey into the inner solar system, they deliver particulates and volatile gases into their comae that reveal the most primitive materials in the solar system. Cometary dust particles provide crucial information for assessing the…
We calculate the gamma-ray albedo due to cosmic-ray interactions with debris (small rocks, dust, and grains) in the Oort Cloud. We show that under reasonable assumptions a significant proportion of what is called the "extragalactic…
Equation of motion for a comet in the Oort cloud is numerically solved. Orbital evolution of the comet under the action of the gravity of the Sun and the Galaxy is presented for various initial conditions. Oscillations of the Sun with…
Most comets are volatile-rich bodies that have recently entered the inner solar system following long-term storage in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud reservoirs. These reservoirs feed several distinct, short-lived "small body"…
The measurements of cosmic interplanetary dust by the instruments on board the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft contain the dynamical signature of dust generated by Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt objects, as well as short period Oort Cloud comets and…
We study the evolution of long-period comets by numerical integration of their orbits, following comets from their origin in the Oort cloud until their final escape or destruction, in a model solar system consisting of the Sun, the four…
The long-term dynamics of Oort cloud comets are studied under the influence of both the radial and the vertical components of the Galactic tidal field. Sporadic dynamical perturbation processes are ignored, such as passing stars, since we…
The Sun was born in a clustered environment with 10,000 other stars. Being an isolated star today, the Sun must have left the nest. We do not directly know when that happened, how violent the ejection was, or how far the Solar siblings have…
We analyse the origin of three Centaurs with perihelia in the range 15 AU to 30 AU, inclinations above 70 deg and semi-major axes shorter than 100 AU. Based on long-term numerical simulations we conclude that these objects most likely…
Comets are a remarkable feature in our night sky, visible on their passage through the inner Solar system as the Sun's energy sublimates ices and liberates surface material, generating beautiful comae, dust, and ion tails. Comets are also…
Interstellar small bodies are unique probes into the histories of exoplanetary systems. One hypothesized class of interlopers are "Jurads," exo-comets released into the Milky Way during the post-main sequence as the thermally-pulsing…