Comets don’t all start out on the fringe

New model suggests comets also come from the inner Oort Cloud

WASHINGTON — A new study of fringe comets could let the outer solar system lose some weight.

Simulations of the most distant objects in the solar system suggest that, counter to long-standing thinking, the comets that swing past Earth can originate in the inner region of the Oort Cloud, not just from its outer fringes.