Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2001-04-17
Science 292:698-702,2001
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
13 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Note added after Science Express online publication: This text reflects the correction of a few
Scientific paper
10.1126/science.1059954
The Milky Way Galaxy contains a large, spherical component which is believed to harbor a substantial amount of unseen matter. Recent observations indirectly suggest that as much as half of this ``dark matter'' may be in the form of old, very cool white dwarfs, the remnants of an ancient population of stars as old as the Galaxy itself. We conducted a survey to find faint, cool white dwarfs with large space velocities, indicative of their membership in the Galaxy's spherical halo component. The survey reveals a substantial, directly observed population of old white dwarfs, too faint to be seen in previous surveys. This newly discovered population accounts for at least 2% of the halo dark matter. It provides a natural explanation for the indirect observations, and represents a direct detection of Galactic halo dark matter.
Digby Andrew P.
Hambly Nigel C.
Hodgkin Simon T.
Oppenheimer Ben R.
Saumon Didier
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