The spiral pattern is about 15,000 astronomical units wide, or around 1.4 trillion miles from one end to the other. It also appears to have a tilt of roughly 30 degrees relative to the usual plane of our Solar System.

That tilt and the elongated swirl may trace back to the galaxy’s own gravitational pulling, which could have twisted and shaped the inner Oort Cloud soon after the Solar System’s birth.

The simulations suggest that, early in the Solar System’s history, bits of icy debris were scattered and then gradually coaxed into a spiral alignment in the Oort Cloud by galactic forces.