• 4. Our Street
• Some scientists believe there is a cloud of comets orbiting the Solar System. They call it the ‘Oort Cloud’ after the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort who thought it up. No-one has seen them, and there is no evidence for them, but if they did exist, this is where they would be. They are about 100,000 Astronomical Units from the Solar System, just over one light year away. A light year is the distance that light will travel in one year.
• The nearest star, Proxima Centurai (part of the Alpha Centurai group) is just over four light years away. The diameter of the orbit of this comet cloud would be about 200,000 Astronomical Units, or two and a half light years.

Created 1997 May 11th, Last modified 2001 July 24th
by webservant David Harris; e-mail david@creationdiscovery.org

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