Abstract
A SUMMARY of the most up-to-date knowledge of the galaxy is provided by an article by Frank K. Edmondson in the Telescope of September-October. A short historical outline of the subject is given, commencing with Glydén's discovery in 1871 of the galactic rotation effect in stellar proper motions, and dealing finally with recent research on the constancy of orbital velocity over a range of about 5,000-15,000 parsecs from the galactic centre. The explanation of this constancy in the rotational velocity is that the distribution of stars in the galaxy lies between high concentration towards the centre and uniform distribution. It has been estimated that the number of stars per unit volume near the centre must be a hundred times that in the neighbourhood of the sun. If this is correct, the sky should appear very brilliant in the direction of the galactic centre. As it does not do so, it is believed that huge clouds of dark interstellar matter partially conceal the centre from our view. For this reason the mysteries of that massive nucleus which lies behind the interstellar veil can be penetrated only through the assistance rendered by the study of star motions.
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Rotation of the Milky Way. Nature 149, 74 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/149074d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/149074d0