Galactic tide and orbital evolution of comets

Abstract

Equation of motion for a comet in the Oort cloud is numerically solved. Orbital evolution of the comet under the action of the gravity of the Sun and the Galaxy is presented for various initial conditions. Oscillations of the Sun with respect to the galactic equatorial plane are taken into account. Real values of physical quantities concerning the gravitational action of the galactic neighbourhood of the Sun are important. The results are compared with currently used more simple models of the galactic tide. It turns out that physically improved models yield results which significantly differ from the results obtained on the basis of the conventional models. E.g., the number of returns of the comets into the inner part of the Solar System are about two times greater than it is in the conventional models. It seems that a comet from the Oort cloud can be a source of the dinosaurs extinction at about 65 Myr ago. A close encounter of a star or an interstellar cloud disturbed a comet of the Oort cloud in the way that its semi-major axis increased/decreased above the value 5 $\times$ 10$^{4}$ AU and the comet hit the Earth.