Overview

• Scientists noticed a bar-shaped spiral with two sweeping arms in the inner Oort Cloud while fine-tuning the American Museum of Natural History’s “Encounters in the Milky Way” planetarium show.
• The shape defies the traditional assumption that the Oort Cloud is a simple sphere or flattened shell warped by planetary and galactic forces.
• Researchers including David Nesvorny of the Southwest Research Institute confirmed the finding using simulation data and published the results earlier this year.
• Planetary scientists say the spiral represents a striking shift in understanding the distribution and dynamics of icy bodies at the solar system’s edge.
• The team is now aiming to substantiate the discovery by tracking the orbits of distant comets for observational evidence.