Abstract
The Oort cloud is a long way from Earth. In fact it isn’t a cloud at all but a spherical halo that surrounds the Sun way beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. It is possible that Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was once a member of this sphere. It is also possible that the comet was once a lot closer to the Sun, either in a ribbon of comets past Neptune and Pluto that we call the Kuiper Belt or even closer to Earth mixed in among the asteroids.
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References
C. Chapman, Sky and Telescope 35 (1968), 276–279.
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© 1995 David H. Levy
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Levy, D.H. (1995). Of Comets, Planets, and People. In: Impact Jupiter. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6102-0_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-6102-0_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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