The mass of the Oort cloud

Details The mass of the Oort cloud The mass of the Oort cloud

Feb 1983

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983a%26a...118...90w&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 118, no. 1, Feb. 1983, p. 90-94. NASA-supported research.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

25

Comets, Mass Distribution, Oort Cloud, Solar Corona, Solar System, Brightness Distribution, Evolution (Development), Magnitude, Comets, Source, Oort Cloud, Mars, Calculations, Magnitudes, Accretion, Brightness, Comet Nuclei, Size, Long-Period Comets, Data, Procedure, Short-Period Comets, Origin, Hypotheses, Fragments, Ejecta

Scientific paper

The total mass of comets in the Oort cloud is calculated. The distribution of cometary masses is found based on the observed distribution of cometary magnitudes corrected for observational selection effects by Everhart (1967), and a derived relationship between brightness and nucleus mass. A cloud population of 1.4 trillion comets brighter than an absolute magnitude of 11 as found by Weissman (1982) is used. The estimated total mass is 1.9 earth masses. The probable error in the estimate is about one order of magnitude. Most of the mass of the Oort cloud is concentrated in the size range of the observed long-period comets. The mass estimate is consistent with either cometary formation among the outer planets, or in satellite fragments of the primordial solar nebula.

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