The dynamics of galaxies and the 'missing mass' problem

Abstract

I review the observational situation concerning the existence of dark matter in the outer parts of galaxies. Observation now leaves little doubt of its presence, and both observation and simple theory suggest that the dark matter is probably bound to galaxies, and furthermore is present around both spirals and ellipticals. New evidence concerning the rotation curve of the Galaxy shows that the distribution of the halo stuff in our own system is roughly spherical, as seems natural from existing dynamical data on the nature of the halo material.

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