Where do comets come from?

Beyond Neptune lies the Kuiper Belt, a vast region filled with icy bodies. Some of the most famous comets, like Halley’s Comet, originate here, orbiting the Sun in predictable, elliptical paths. These are called short-period comets, with cycles lasting a few decades to centuries.

But much farther away—nearly a light-year from the Sun—exists the Oort Cloud, a massive sphere of icy objects surrounding the entire solar system. This is the birthplace of long-period comets, which take thousands of years to complete an orbit. Their unpredictable paths make them much harder to track.

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