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> it took ‘Oumuamua more than 10,000 years to traverse the entire solar system Is there an error in this sentence or is the popular understanding (that it pass
by happytoexplain 6y ago
> it took ‘Oumuamua more than 10,000 years to traverse the entire solar system
Is there an error in this sentence or is the popular understanding (that it passed through briefly, for some definition of brief) incorrect?
- edgyquant 6y agoIt took 10,000 years from what I’ve read, which is a brief period for an astronomical timeframe
- optimalsolver 6y ago10K years is a blink of an eye in cosmic terms.
- bitcurious 6y agoI think the solar system as defined here extends out to the edge of the Oort Cloud. >https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud > The outer limit of the Oort cloud defines the cosmographic boundary of the Solar System > The Oort cloud...is a theoretical cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals proposed to surround the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 au (0.03 to 3.2 light-years).
- happytoexplain 6y agoThat explains it. I always forget the orders of magnitude involved between the smallest colloquial definitions of "the solar system" and the largest technical definitions. It looks like it was only in the planetary region for under a decade.