A shell of icy objects at the edge of the solar system known as the Oort cloud has a pair of spiral arms that resemble a miniature galaxy, new research suggests.

The inner Oort cloud, between 1,000 and 10,000 AU from the sun, displays a spiral formation with arms that extend 15,000 AU.

We typically think of the Oort cloud as scattered ice balls floating far from the sun, yet still tied to it gravitationally. Occasionally, some wayward gravitational perturbation will knock one of them a weird way and create a long-period comet,

The mysterious Oort cloud is the source of many of our solar system's comets, but astronomers still have no idea what it looks like. Now, new simulations may have given them a first glimpse.

In the farthest reaches of our solar system, beyond the familiar planets and even the icy Kuiper Belt, lies a mysterious region known as the Oort cloud. This is a vast shell of icy bodies, stretching thousands of times farther from the Sun than Earth.

A hidden structure at the farthest reaches of our solar system is challenging long-held theories. Using advanced simulations, a NASA supercomputer has revealed that the Oort Cloud, a vast shell of icy bodies surrounding the Sun,