Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
A Monte Carlo model of stellar perturbations of the Oort cloud is used to study the distributions in energy and perihelion of comets entering the planetary region for the first time. The model is run for a variety of initial states and a range of velocity perturbations. In all cases the resulting orbits are uniformly distributed in perihelion distance in the planetary region, q < 20 AU. Most orbits are confined to a fairly narrow range in 1/a and hyperbolic orbits are rare.