The VERA project team succeeded in determining the Galactic rotation velocity and the distance between the Sun and the Galactic center. These values impact estimates of the amount of dark matter in the Galaxy.

This research managed to determine the distance from the Sun to the Galactic center as 8 kiloparsecs, about 26,100 light-years. The rotation velocity of the Solar System was found to be 240 km/s.

These values are about 10 percent larger than previous estimates. This means the mass of the Galaxy is 20 percent heavier.

Project	Mizusawa VLBI Observatory
Instrument	VERA
Related Link	Mass of Dark Matter Revealed by Precise Measurements of the Galaxy