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tive c e t e d ter t a the m f o k r t a s The d ed that mo BLE I ov who pr rse is INVIS e mysterious Unive idence of ths how stars
t nd ev that affec xies. u o f la n Rubi k matter ithin ga w dar Did yo move
Young astronomer Vera Rubin was born in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1928. Fascinated by the night sky from an early age, she built her own telescope out of cardboard at the age of 14. Determined to pursue her passion, she studied ASTRONOMY – despite being told that it was an unsuitable career for a woman.
In 1965, u know? the first Rubin becam e w powerfu oman to use th the Palo l telescopes a e t ma Californiar Observatory, , her reseUSA, for arch.
Puzzling discovery Rubin studied spiral galaxies and discovered that their outer stars moved much faster than expected. Since most of a GALAXY’S MASS lies at its centre, she had expected the outer stars to move more slowly than the inner ones – just as the outer planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun more slowly than the inner planets. This is because the pull of gravity weakens with distance.
Who came before… In 1932, Dutch astronomer Jan Hendrik OOrt suggested the existence of invisible matter after discovering that the mass of the Milky Way must be greater than what could be detected visually. 100
In 1934, Swiss zwicky astronomer Fritz e speed th discovered that e Coma of galaxies in th er than Cluster was fast ncluded predicted. He co atter that there must be m , and could not be seen atter. called it dark m
