Is the Kuiper Belt the same as the Ort Cloud, or is the Ort Cloud an additional source for comets?
Right, I should have said the Ort cloud is the ultimate source, though of course they pass through the Kuiper Belt on their way in to the inner solar system.
Thanks.
The Oort Cloud is an (unattested) ‘sphere’ that’s posited to be quite a bit further out, and is a mathematical construct that grows out of the common model for Solar System formation. The Kuiper Belt is much closer in, and is a second asteroid belt made up (so far) of larger minor bodies on highly elliptical orbits. Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNO) are a better-documented subset of the Kuiper Belt, and are between 30 and 48 AU (astronomical units) from the Sun.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/trans-neptunian-object