Maximum mass of objects that constitute unseen disk material
Abstract
It is suggested that the mass of the individual unseen 'disk things' which furnish unseen mass satisfies an inequality that is based on the demonstrated existence of a large number of wide binary stars in the Galaxy whose projected separations are as large as 0.1 pc. Since these binaries are weakly bound, with orbital velocities of 0.3 km/sec and periods of the order of 1 million years, they can be disrupted by passing stars or other pointlike objects. This implies that the mass of the unseen disk objects, which provide about half the local mass density, must be less than 2 solar masses.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1985
- DOI:
- 10.1086/162953
- Bibcode:
- 1985ApJ...290...15B
- Keywords:
-
- Binary Stars;
- Disk Galaxies;
- Galactic Structure;
- Milky Way Galaxy;
- Stellar Mass;
- Astronomical Models;
- Interstellar Matter;
- Mass Distribution;
- Orbital Velocity;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Astrophysics