Difference Between Kuiper Belt And Oort Cloud
Kuiper belt is in the shape of a disk area that is visible beyond the orbit of Saturn.
Oort cloud is a mass of trillions of comets and dust that orbit the sun. Oort cloud is not really clouds, but it stretches over three light-years from the sun.
Kuiper clouds consists of many ice comets which are not asteroids orbiting around in and around the sun at a faster rate. Oort cloud is very spherical while kuiper cloud is like disk in shape.
Astronomer Gerard Peter Kuiper made the great discover which is later called the Kuiper cloud when he suggested in 1951 that there is a disc-shaped zone beyond Neptune’s orbit, which was a source of short period comets. It was not until 1992 that the existence of such an area was analyzed.
Oort cloud is named after Dutch astronomer Hendrik Oort who in January 1950 had proposed that comets originate in a cloud of material.
The history of the origin of kuiper belt is a little indistinct. Oort cloud can be renamed as a remnant of the initial Proto planetary disk formed around the Sun about 4.6 million years ago. Oort cloud’s objects are formed closer to the sun as compared to the Kuiper belt. Objects in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud consist mainly of methane, ammonia and water. Kuiper Belt is also home to three dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake.
Objects in the Oort cloud and Kuiper belt are different in many ways. Oort cloud objects face interference from the stars and sun, but objects in the Kuiper belt do not face any such interference.
Summary:
1. The kuiper cloud lies beyond the orbit of Saturn.
2. Oort cloud is a mass of trillions of comets and dust that orbit the sun.
3. While Kuiper Belt is disk-shaped Oort cloud is spherical in shape.
4. Astronomer Kuiper discovered what later Kuiper cloud became when he suggested in 1951 that there is a disc-shaped zone beyond Neptune’s orbit, which was the starting point of short duration comets.
5. The Oort cloud is named after Dutch astronomer Hendrik oort who in proclaimed in 1950’s that comets had their origin in a cloud of material.
6. Oort cloud objects face interference from the stars and sun, but objects in the Kuiper belt do not face any such interference