Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T15:52:21.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Does Our Galaxy have a Massive Dark Corona?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

K.C. Freeman*
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The rotation curves of spiral galaxies indicate that most of them have massive dark coronas, and it seems likely that our Galaxy also has a dark corona. Our position in the galactic disk makes it difficult to measure the galactic rotation curve beyond about 20 kpc from the galactic center, but it does allow us to use several other indicators of the total galactic mass out to very large distances. I will review some of these indicators. The conclusion is that the Galaxy does indeed have a massive dark corona: the data are consistent with the enclosed mass within radius R increasing like M(R) ≈ R(kpc) × 1010 M , out to a radius of more than 100 kpc, and a total galactic mass of at least 12 × 1011 M .

Type
Chapter 8: How do we put it together?
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1996 

References

Carney, B.W., Latham, D.W., Laird, J.B. 1988. Astron. J., 96, 560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cudworth, K. 1990. Astron. J., 99, 590.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwek, E. et. al. 1994. Preprint.Google Scholar
Fich, M., Tremaine, S. 1991. Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys., 29, 409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, K.C. 1993. in Physics of Nearby Galaxies: Nature or Nurture (Paris: Editions Frontieres), p 201.Google Scholar
Hartwick, F.D.A., Sargent, W.L. 1978. Astrophys. J., 221, 512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, F., Woltjer, L. 1959. Astrophys. J., 130, 705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kent, S. 1992. Astrophys. J., 387, 181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroeker, T.L., Carlberg, R.G. 1991. Astrophys. J., 376, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuijken, K., Gilmore, G. 1989. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 239, 605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, M.G. et. al. 1993. Astron. J., 106, 1420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, P.J.T., Tremaine, S. 1990. Astrophys. J., 353, 486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, J.R., Freeman, K.C. 1989. Astron. J., 97, 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, D.N.C., Jones, B.F., Klemola, A.R., 1995. Astrophys. J., 439, 652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, B., Tremaine, S. 1987. Astrophys. J., 320, 493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merrifield, M. 1992. Astron. J., 103, 1552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milgrom, M. 1988. Astrophys. J., 333, 689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, H.L. 1993. Astron. J., 106, 578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, H.L., Flynn, C., Freeman, K.C. 1990. Astron. J., 100, 1191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, J.E., Hawkins, M. 1991, Astrophys. J., 380, 104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peebles, P.J.E. 1990. Astrophys. J., 362, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raychaudhury, S., Lynden-Bell, D. 1989. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 240, 195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sommer-Larsen, J., Flynn, C., Christensen, P.R. 1994, preprint.Google Scholar
Zaritsky, D. et. al. 1989. Astrophys. J., 345, 759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar