1900: On 28 April 1900, Dutch astronomer Jan Oort was born.
By the time of his death, at the age of 92, Professor Oort was recognised as one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century.
He is best known for his suggestion that the Solar System is surrounded by a vast cloud of perhaps 100 000 million comets. By studying the orbits of long-period comets, Oort noticed that many of them seem to originate in a zone far beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Although he was not the first astronomer to propose such a comet swarm, the as-yet unconfirmed cloud is usually known as the ‘Oort Cloud’.
Modal multimediów
26 April
25 April
24 April
bądź na bieżąco
Zapisz się do naszego newslettera, aby otrzymywać najnowsze wiadomości, aktualizacje misji i ekskluzywne materiały bezpośrednio do swojej skrzynki odbiorczej. Dowiedz się jako pierwszy o naszych nadchodzących projektach i przełomach.