Which giant planets are credited with flinging planetesimals outward to form the distant Oort Cloud population?
Answer
Jupiter and Saturn through gravitational scattering events
The origin story for the Oort Cloud population is linked to the chaotic early assembly of the solar system. Most material that currently resides in the Oort Cloud formed much closer to the Sun, inside the orbits of the giant planets. During this tumultuous period, gravitational scattering events involving the massive gravitational influence of Jupiter and Saturn ejected these icy planetesimals, flinging them outward deep into space where they eventually settled into the spherical cloud structure.
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