Massive coronae around galaxies (Einasto, Kaasik and Saar)
Coronas masivas de las galaxias (Einasto, Kaasik y Saar)
- Date
- 1974 · confidence high
- Place
- Tartu Observatory, Tõravere, Estonia
- Credited to
- Jaan Einasto, Ants Kaasik and Enn Saar
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Using data from binary-galaxy orbits and rotation, the Tartu team concluded that each galaxy is surrounded by a halo of invisible matter up to ten times more massive than the luminous part.
The Nature paper (1974) appeared almost simultaneously with that of Ostriker, Peebles and Yahil at Princeton, which reached a similar conclusion; Vera Rubin and Kent Ford obtained rotation curves in those years. Dark matter has roots in Zwicky (1933).
What it led to
- the consensus that dark matter is a common component of galaxies
- structure-formation models with cold dark matter
- direct and indirect searches for dark-matter particles