<ul><li>A new paper from researchers at the Southwest Research Institute and the American Museum of Natural History reveals the structure of the inner Oort cloud, a part of the solar system located 1,000 to 10,000 times farther from the Sun than Earth.</li><li>The inner Oort cloud is considered slightly more populated than the outer Oort cloud and is estimated to contain potentially trillions of icy bodies.</li><li>The structure of the inner Oort cloud is affected by the gravitational forces of the galaxy, specifically the Galactic tide, which influences the positioning of these icy rocks.</li><li>The researchers' model suggests that the inner Oort cloud has a spiral disk shape with two spiral arms, influenced by the Kozai-Lidov effect resulting from the Galactic tide's gravitational impact.</li></ul>

A Spiral Structure in the Inner Oort Cloud

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