MCQ Detailed View

The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud are two major regions in the outer solar system believed to contain countless icy bodies, comets, and small planetary remnants left over from the solar system’s formation. These regions help scientists understand the origin of comets and the early stages of planetary development.

The Oort Cloud was first proposed in 1950 by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort. He studied the paths of long-period comets entering the inner solar system and concluded that a vast, spherical shell of icy objects must surround the Sun at a great distance, serving as a reservoir for these comets. This theoretical cloud, now called the Oort Cloud, is thought to extend far beyond Pluto, possibly up to 100,000 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun.

The Kuiper Belt, named after Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper, was also hypothesized in the mid-20th century. Kuiper suggested that a disk-shaped region beyond Neptune contained many small icy bodies. The Kuiper Belt is now a well-studied area, home to dwarf planets such as Pluto, Haumea, and Makemake, as well as millions of icy objects that are remnants of the early solar system.

Although both astronomers contributed to our understanding of these distant regions, the Oort Cloud specifically was first proposed by Jan Oort in 1950. Later discoveries confirmed the existence of the Kuiper Belt, validating both astronomers' theories and shaping modern planetary science.

These discoveries are crucial for understanding the origins of comets, the distribution of icy bodies in space, and the overall structure of our solar system. The correct answer to this MCQ is Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950, as he was the first to propose the existence of the Oort Cloud, which led to further studies of outer solar system regions including the Kuiper Belt.