In an earlier paper, “Who Needs Dark Matter? An Alternative Explanation for the Galactic Rotation Anomaly,” this author examined a possible electromagnetic phenomenon as an explanation for the ‘galactic rotation anomaly,’ whereby the rotational speeds of stars in a spiral galaxy exhibit a relatively constant value despite increasing radius. There, this author assumed that angular rotation speed remained relatively constant, so as to preserve the stability of the spiral arms as they rotate. Several other authors’ theories were presented along with one by this author himself, which cited the magnetic field within the plane of a galaxy resulting from rotation by both the spherical galactic core and flattened ‘disk’ containing the spiral arms as possibly yielding the constant angular speed. However, many galactic rotation curves exhibit constant tangential rather than angular rotation speed, inconsistent with a ‘pinwheel-like’ galactic rotation which would preserve spiral arm stability. The possibility that this is really an ‘optical illusion’ masking the actual pinwheel-like rotation, and corresponding constancy of angular, not tangential, speed is considered here. Finally, speculation as to the phenomenon responsible for this ‘illusion’ is offered.
