Resolution of the observed dispersion of the radial velocities of a galactic subsystem into components

Abstract

Possible approaches are considered to the problem of resolving the observed dispersion in the radial velocities of objects of a given kind in the Galaxy into the system’s true dispersion and the contribution of random errors in heliocentric distances r. Of the methods that have been constructed, only the joint estimation of the true dispersion and the relative mean error in r can yield satisfactory results. This method is used for the subsystem of CO clouds with an observed dispersion of 8.7 ± 0.4 km/sec to obtain the true dispersion of 8.0 ± 0.6 km/sec and the mean error of 0m.25 ± 0m.085 in their distance moduli.