Dwarfs threaten Kepler and Newton

The outre model of spiral galaxies as cosmic Faraday motors, espoused by some theorists, is in danger of burning. For the prima facie appeal of that model, the visual and dynamical analogies between a spiral galaxy and an electricity meter becomes that much harder to maintain when the rotor component of the system is missing, as looks to be the case for the dwarf galaxies studied.

The advantage of Mateo's Modified Newtonian Dynamics is that it adjusts the concept of what is evidently already there to account for the observed facts. It requires merely a clarification of the nature (i.e. the properties) of gravity itself.

The alternative speculation, that the presently obscure dark matter will in due course come to light (in a manner of speaking) in the guise of undetected or currently unknown elementary particles, faces what appears to be a much sterner program of describing the distribution and density of these substances of the future to account for the perceived motions of organised stellar populations.

Or, to put it differently, the former needs to venture into the field of metaphysics for salvation, while the latter must take its chances juggling multitudes of vectors within computer model hyperspace. It is, to say the very least, an invidious choice.

While this explanatory face-off has yet to be resolved, Mateo it appears is not above drawing on tactics more commonly associated with prize fighters outside the ring, and more recently with football managers away from the touchlines, in the psychological battle for advantage.

Matteo alleges that Neptune was once "dark matter". But no, this is not apparently a claim entailing alchemical transformations.

Space Daily notes:

"Before the term was even coined, astronomers predicted its [Neptune's] existence based on an anomaly in the orbit of Neptune's neighbor Uranus. They knew just where to look for Neptune."

Say that last sentence again, Prof? ®