Producing a Galactic Rotation Curve for the Milky Way Galaxy*

A galactic rotation curve is the graph of distance and velocity of intergalactic objects from the center of the galaxy. When plotted, the data resembles a curve that can be used to understand the relationship of velocity and mass in a galaxy. In this study, a galactic rotation curve was produced for the Milky Way galaxy. When neutral hydrogen’s electron has an antiparallel spin the energy level is lower than the hydrogen with a parallel spin, causing radiation on the 21 cm line. This radiation was detected with a small radio telescope (SRT) at a frequency of 1420.42 MHz. The SRT took samples every two degrees from 20°- 90° for a duration of 300 seconds then produced output files. Methods were applied to calculate the distance of the hydrogen cloud from the galactic center. Then, by assessing the doppler shift of the cloud orbital velocity was calculated. The distance and orbital velocity were graphed to result in a low resolution galactic rotation curve.