Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
We have examined the systematic velocity field of the solar neighborhood, based on Hipparcos (HIgh Precision PARallax COllecting Satellite) proper motions and ground-based radial velocities of about 240 O-B5 stars. The distances of these stars were derived from either Hipparcos parallaxes or the SKYMAP compilation of the spectroscopic parallaxes. Using a first-order approximation, we obtained the galactic rotation at the solar vicinity of Vθ = 255.52±8.33 km s−1 assuming the galactocentric distance of the Sun, R⊙ = 8.5 kpc. The slope of the galactic-rotation curve is given by (∂Vθ/∂R)R⊙ = −1.98±0.98 km s−1 kpc−1, and the rotation about the axis pointing to the galactic center is −R−1∂Vz/∂θ = 1.33±0.90 km s−1 kpc−1. Our sample shows neither expansion nor contraction with respect to the Local Standard of Rest (LSR).
Uemura et al. (Tue,) studied this question.