The Colloquium takes place every Wednesday at 11:15 AM - Warsaw Copernicus Astronomical Centre online by means of Zoom platform. The Colloquium is given in English and chaired by dr Stanisław Bajtlik (bajtlik@camk.edu.pl). People from outside of the Copernicus Center are very welcome to participate. For technical detailes please contact Dr. Stanislaw Bajtlik.
Luke Dones (Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado)
The existence of the Oort Cloud, the source of long-period comets (LPCs), was proposed in 1950. Until recently, most LPC discoveries were of comets that passed within 3 au of the Sun, where water ice sublimates vigorously. LPCs are now being disovered with perihelion distances beyond 10 au, and five have shown activity beyond 20 au on the inbound legs of their orbits. I will give a brief overview of the small-body populations in our Solar System; review models of the formation of the Oort Cloud; describe comets active far from the Sun; report on a prediction of a spiral structure in the inner Oort Cloud; and discuss prospects for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time of the Vera Rubin Observatory to discover many distant LPCs in the near future.
Journal Club takes place on Mondays at 11:15 AM in the Seminar Room. The presentation is given in English and is chaired by Journal Club Coordinators. Anyone interested in giving a Journal Club talk is encouraged to contact the email: journalclub(@camk.edu.pl).
Frederic Marcadon (NCAC, Warsaw)
Based on: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20900
