In what region of the solar system do comets typically originate?

Comets typically originate in the Oort Cloud, which is a vast and distant region of the solar system. The Oort Cloud is thought to be a spherical shell surrounding the solar system, extending far beyond the orbit of Neptune and potentially reaching up to a light-year away from the Sun. This area is believed to harbor many icy bodies, including comets, that can be perturbed by gravitational interactions with other objects, which sends them into the inner solar system.

When these icy bodies approach the Sun, they develop a coma and sometimes a tail due to the sublimation of their ices into gas, creating the characteristic features of comets. The Oort Cloud is crucial for understanding long-period comets, which take many years to complete a single orbit around the Sun.

In contrast, the other choices depict regions of the solar system that are not appropriate sources for comets. The Asteroid Belt primarily contains rocky bodies, the Kuiper Belt hosts many ice-rich objects similar to comets but is more associated with short-period comets, and the Inner Solar System typically includes terrestrial planets and their moons, not regions where comets are formed.