Now that we’re done with the planets, asteroid belt, and comets, we’re heading to the outskirts of the solar system. Out past Neptune are vast reservoirs of icy bodies that can become comets if they get poked into the inner solar system. The Kuiper Belt is a donut shape aligned with the plane of the solar system; the scattered disk is more eccentric and is the source of shortperiod comets, and the Oort Cloud which surrounds the solar system out to great distances is the source of longperiod comets. These bodies all probably formed closer to the Sun and got flung out to the solar system’s suburbs by gravitational interactions with the outer planets.

Check out the Crash Course Astronomy solar system poster here: http://store.dftba.com/products/crash...



Chapters:
Introduction: Where Do Comets Come From? 00:00
Kuiper Belt, Scattered Disk, and Oort Cloud 2:52
LongPeriod Comets come from the Oort Cloud 4:03
ShortPeriod Comets come from the Scattered Disk 4:27
Pluto, Plutinos, and other Kuiper Belt Objects 4:47
Oort Cloud Objects 8:25
Review 10:38


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PHOTOS/VIDEOS
HD Long Exposure Star Timelapse https://vimeo.com/34172172 [credit: Jeffrey Beach, Beachfront BRoll]
Fine Structure in the Comet’s Jets http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/01/... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protopla... [credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA]
Artist's impression of a protoplanetary disk. [credit: ESO/L. Calçada ESO]
Creating Gas Giants http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgibin/deta... [credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center]
What is a Sungrazing Comet? http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgibin/deta... [credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center]
Pluto/Neptune Orbit http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/files/images... [credit: NASA]
1992 QB1 http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedi... [credit: ESO]
Eris http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060918.html [credit: W. M. Keck Observatory]
Moons of Pluto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerberos... [credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter (SETI institute)]
New Horizons Approach http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/common/conten... [credit: JHUAPL]
Moon http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/... [credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio]
Pluto http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedi... [credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute]
Sedna’s Orbit http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil... [credit: NASA]
Artist’s Conception of Kuiper Belt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:14... [credit: NASA, Wikimedia Commons]
Kuiper Belt World (video) http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/video/41 [credit: NASA Kepler Mission/Dana Berry]
Pluto Discovery Plates http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/sin... [credit: Clyde Tombaugh, Lowell Observatory]