A team of scientists
from Japan initiate new, more accurate measurements of the distance from the
solar system to the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, which was found to be
26,100 light-years, and the rate of rotation of our galaxy near our solar system,
which was found to be 240 km / s. Previous data on the speed of our galaxy is
220 km / s, which means that the mass of our galaxy - and especially the
contribution, made by dark matter - about 20% higher than previously thought.
A research team led by
Associate Professor Marek Honma (Mareki Honma) of the National Astronomical
Observatory of Japan, with a tool VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry)
and other VLBI-telescopes (telescopes interferometers with very long base) to
accurately measure the distance of about up to 50 sites and received data on
their true motion. VERA tool designed to accurately measure the distance to the
space objects using the triangulation method. The measurement of these
distances will allow scientists to create a 3D-map of our galaxy, and from it
to detect the movement and the mass distribution of objects that make up the
Milky Way.
The disk of our galaxy
revolves around the galactic center so that the rotational speed remains almost
constant as close to the center of the galaxy, and at its outer edge. In
general, the speed of rotation of the galaxy is balanced with its weight, so
the measurement of the speed in this case is equivalent to measuring the mass
of the galaxy.
Dark matter - a
mysterious substance that fills our universe, which is believed to be
responsible for the increase in speed of the external regions of galaxies
compared with the rate obtained when calculating the total mass of the galaxies
belonging to the object. Physicists believe that dark matter is composed of
elementary particles, and is currently undergoing experiments to search for
these particles.
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