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The Galactic Rotation Curve to R = 18 Kpc

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

Leo Blitz
Affiliation:
Radio Astronomy Laboratory University of California, Berkeley
Michel Fich
Affiliation:
Radio Astronomy Laboratory University of California, Berkeley
Antony A. Stark
Affiliation:
Princeton University Observatory

Extract

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The major stumbling block in the determination of a rotation curve beyond the solar circle has been the lack of a suitable set of objects with well defined and independently measured distances and velocities which can be observed to large galactocentric radii. Two things have changed this situation. The first was the realization that essentially all local HII regions have associated molecular material. The second was the acquisition of reliable distances to the stars exciting a sizable number of HII regions at large galactocentric radii (Moffat, FitzGerald, and Jackson 1979). Because the velocity of the associated molecular gas can be measured very accurately by means of radio observations of CO, we have been able to overcome the past difficulties and have measured the rotation curve of the Galaxy to a galactocentric distance of 18 kpc.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1980 

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