Comets are primarily found in two distant regions of our solar system:
- The Kuiper Belt , a disc-shaped region beyond Neptune's orbit (about 30 to 50 astronomical units from the Sun), where many short-period comets originate. These comets have orbits of less than 200 years and orbit roughly in the same plane as the planets
- The Oort Cloud , a vast, spherical shell of icy objects surrounding the solar system at distances ranging from about 3,000 to 100,000 astronomical units (up to nearly 2 light years away). This region is the source of long-period comets, which can take thousands to hundreds of thousands of years to orbit the Sun. The Oort Cloud marks the outer boundary of the Sun’s gravitational influence
Comets spend most of their time frozen and inactive in these regions. When gravitational interactions with planets or passing stars perturb their orbits, comets can be sent inward toward the Sun, where they become visible as they heat up and develop tails
. In summary, comets are found mainly in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune and the distant Oort Cloud enveloping the solar system
