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The Massive Dark Corona Of Our Galaxy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2016

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

Abstract

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From their rotation curves, most spiral galaxies appear to have massive dark coronas. The inferred masses of these dark coronas are typically 5 to 10 times the mass of the underlying stellar component. I will review the evidence 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. However it does allow several other indicators of the total galactic mass out to very large distances. It seems clear that the Galaxy does indeed have a massive dark corona. The data indicate that the enclosed mass within radius R increases like M(R) ≈ R(kpc) × 1010M⊙, out to a radius of more than 100 kpc. The total galactic mass is at least 12 × 1011M⊙.

Type
Chapter 6: Galaxies
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 173: Astrophysical Applications of Gravitational Lensing , 1996 , pp. 175 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1996 

References

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