Phy-Tea
SimulationMade with three.js

Galaxy Rotation Curve

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Open in free modeOpens in a new tab with every scene and tool unlocked and no missions. You can also share it with students.

Measure the wavelength shifts of starlight and 21 cm radio waves with a probe in a 3D spiral galaxy you can turn, and draw its rotation curve. The curve expected from the visible stars and gas falls off far out while the observed curve stays flat, so you grow a dark matter halo until the two curves match.

Key conceptsrotation curve · dark matter · matter that gives off no light · mass distribution · Keplerian rotation · radial velocity · redshift · 21 cm radio line