Oort

/ ɔːt /

noun

1. OortJan Hendrick19001992MDutchSCIENCE: astronomer Jan Hendrick. 1900–92, Dutch astronomer, who confirmed (1927) and developed the theory of galactic rotation. He was the first to propose (1950) the existence of a mass of comets orbiting the sun far beyond the orbit of Pluto (the Oort cloud )

Example Sentences

And when people are ogling the night sky this week, they should also keep an eye out for two additional celestial sightings — Saturn and the appearance of an ancient Oort cloud comet, she added.

From Los Angeles Times

And what, you ask, is the Oort Cloud?

From Los Angeles Times

The Oort Cloud, a hypothesized shell of icy worlds at an unfathomable distance from the sun, has never been directly seen—and VRO won’t change that.

From National Geographic

But, the team calculated, it's slightly more likely that a rogue, Neptune-like planet from another solar system was snagged by the sun's gravity and came to rest somewhere in the Oort cloud.

From Scientific American

In about 300 years, they will pass through the Oort Cloud, a distant and sparse ring around the sun which astronomers believe is the origin of many comets in the solar system.

From Salon