Galactic Tide & the Oort Cloud Loss Cone (2D)

The same physical mechanism as the 3D flagship version, seen from directly above: instead of integrating fast day-to-day orbital motion, this model evolves each of 220 comets' orbital shape and orientation directly using the orbit-averaged (secular) Gauss perturbation equations for the Milky Way disk's vertical tidal field — the same mathematical machinery behind the Kozai–Lidov mechanism. Watch eccentricity and perihelion distance slowly rock back and forth over tens of millions of simulated years as each ellipse's argument of perihelion precesses, until some comets' perihelion dips below the loss-cone threshold and they flash red — the trickle-feed mechanism believed to supply long-period comets without needing a passing star. Adjust the local galactic density, coupling strength, playback speed and loss-cone threshold, and track live readouts of elapsed time, population inside the loss cone, and mean perihelion.