Bibcode
Battaglia, Giuseppina; Helmi, Amina; Breddels, Maarten
Bibliographical reference
New Astronomy Reviews, Volume 57, Issue 3-4, p. 52-79.
Advertised on:
9
2013
Journal
Citations
100
Refereed citations
89
Description
We review our current understanding of the internal dynamical properties
of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies surrounding the Milky Way. These are
the most dark matter dominated galaxies, and as such may be considered
ideal laboratories to test the current concordance cosmological model,
and in particular provide constraints on the nature of the dominant form
of dark matter. We discuss the latest observations of the kinematics of
stars in these systems, and how these may be used to derive their mass
distribution. We tour through the various dynamical techniques used,
with emphasis on the complementarity and limitations, and discuss what
the results imply also in the context of cosmological models. Finally we
provide an outlook on exciting developments in this field.