This population is divided into three subgroups by astronomers.

The scattered ETNOs have perihelia around 38–45 AU and

an exceptionally high eccentricity of more than 0.85. As with the regular scattered disc objects, they were likely formed as
result of gravitational scattering by Neptune and still interact with the giant planets. The detached ETNOs, with perihelia
approximately between 40–45 and 50–60 AU, are less affected by Neptune than the scattered ETNOs, but are still relatively
close to Neptune. The sednoids or inner Oort cloud objects, with perihelia beyond 50–60 AU, are too far from Neptune to be
strongly influenced by it.[223]
Currently, there is one ETNO that is classified as a dwarf planet:

 Sedna (76.2–937 AU) was the first extreme trans-Neptunian object to be discovered. It is a large, reddish object, and it
takes ~11,400 years for Sedna to complete one orbit. Mike Brown, who discovered the object in 2003, asserts that it
cannot be part of the scattered disc or the Kuiper belt because its perihelion is too distant to have been affected by
Neptune's migration.[225] The sednoid population is named after Sedna.[223]

Edge of the heliosphere

Diagram of the Sun's magnetosphere and helioshealth

The Sun's stellar-wind bubble, the heliosphere, a region of space dominated by the Sun, has its boundary at the termination
shock. Based on the Sun's peculiar motion relative to the local standard of rest, this boundary is roughly 80–100 AU from the
Sun upwind of the interstellar medium and roughly 200 AU from the Sun downwind.[226] Here the solar wind collides with the
interstellar medium[227] and dramatically slows, condenses and becomes more turbulent, forming a great oval structure known
as the heliosheath.[226]
The heliosheath has been theorized to look and behave very much like a comet's tail, extending outward for a further 40 AU
on the upwind side but tailing many times that distance downwind.[228] Evidence from the Cassini and Interstellar Boundary
Explorer spacecraft has suggested that it is forced into a bubble shape by the constraining action of the interstellar magnetic
field,[229][230] but the actual shape remains unknown.[231]
The shape and form of the outer edge of the heliosphere is likely affected by the fluid dynamics of interactions with the
interstellar medium as well as solar magnetic fields prevailing to the south, e.g. it is bluntly shaped with the northern
hemisphere extending 9 AU farther than the southern hemisphere.[226] The heliopause is considered the beginning of the
interstellar medium.[83] Beyond the heliopause, at around 230 AU, lies the bow shock: a plasma "wake" left by the Sun as it
travels through the Milky Way.[232] Large objects outside the heliopause remain gravitationally bound to the sun, but the flow
of matter in the interstellar medium homogenizes the distribution of micro-scale objects.[83]

Miscellaneous populations
Comets
Main article: Comet
 Comet Hale–Bopp seen in 1997

Comets are small Solar System bodies, typically only a few kilometres across, composed largely of volatile ices. They have
highly eccentric orbits, generally a perihelion within the orbits of the inner planets and an aphelion far beyond Pluto. When a
comet enters the inner Solar System, its proximity to the Sun causes its icy surface to sublimate and ionise, creating
a coma: a long tail of gas and dust often visible to the naked eye.[233]
Short-period comets have orbits lasting less than two hundred years. Long-period comets have orbits lasting thousands of
years. Short-period comets are thought to originate in the Kuiper belt, whereas long-period comets, such as Hale–Bopp, are
thought to originate in the Oort cloud. Many comet groups, such as the Kreutz sungrazers, formed from the breakup of a
single parent.[234] Some comets with hyperbolic orbits may originate outside the Solar System, but determining their precise
orbits is difficult.[235] Old comets whose volatiles have mostly been driven out by solar warming are often categorised as
asteroids.[236]

Meteoroids, meteors and dust

Main articles: Meteoroid, Interplanetary dust cloud, and Cosmic dust

The planets, zodiacal light and meteor shower (top left of image)

Solid objects smaller than one meter are usually called meteoroids and micrometeoroids (grain-sized), with the exact
division between the two categories being debated over the years.[237] By 2017, the IAU designated any solid object having a
diameter between ~30 micrometres and 1 metre as meteoroids, and depreciated the micrometeoroid categorization, instead
terms smaller particles simply as 'dust particles'.[238]
Some meteoroids formed via disintegration of comets and asteroids, while a few formed via impact debris ejected from
planetary bodies. Most meteoroids are made of silicates and heavier metals like nickel and iron.[239] When passing through
the Solar System, comets produce a trail of meteoroids; it is hypothesized that this is caused either by vaporization of the
comet's material or by simple breakup of dormant comets. When crossing an atmosphere, these meteoroids will produce
bright streaks in the sky due to atmospheric entry, called meteors. If a stream of meteoroids enter the atmosphere on
parallel trajectories, the meteors will seemingly 'radiate' from a point in the sky, hence the phenomenon's name: meteor
shower.[240][page needed]
The inner Solar System is home to the zodiacal dust cloud. It causes the hazy zodiacal light in the dark, unpolluted sky. It
may have been formed by collisions within the asteroid belt brought on by gravitational interactions with the planets; a more
recent proposed origin is materials from planet Mars.[241] The outer Solar System also hosts a cosmic dust cloud. It extends
from about 10 AU to about 40 AU, and was probably created by collisions within the Kuiper belt.[242][243]

Boundary area and uncertainties

See also: Planets beyond Neptune and List of Solar System objects by greatest aphelion

Much of the Solar System is still unknown. Areas beyond thousands of AU away are still virtually unmapped and learning
about this region of space is difficult. Study in this region depends upon inferences from those few objects whose orbits
happen to be perturbed such that they fall closer to the Sun, and even then, detecting these objects has often been possible
only when they happened to become bright enough to register as comets.[244] Many objects may yet be discovered in the
Solar System's uncharted regions.[245]
One of these objects might be the Oort cloud, a theorized spherical cloud of up to a trillion icy objects that is thought to be
the source for all long-period comets.[246][247] No direct observation of the Oort cloud is possible with present imaging
technology.[248] It is theorized to surround the Solar System at roughly 50,000 AU (~0.9 ly) from the Sun and possibly to as far
as 100,000 AU (~1.8 ly). The Oort cloud is thought to be composed of comets that were ejected from the inner Solar System
by gravitational interactions with the outer planets. Oort cloud objects move very slowly, and can be perturbed by infrequent
events, such as collisions, the gravitational effects of a passing star, or the galactic tide, the tidal force exerted by the Milky
Way.[246][247]
As of the 2020s, a few astronomers have hypothe