By means of the spectroscope it is possible to determine the relative orbital velocity of the two components, and this when compared with the period fixes the absolute dimensions of the orbit; the apparent dimensions of the orbit being known from visual observations the distance can then be found.
He further elaborated it by the introduction of " eccentrics," which accounted for the changes in orbital velocity of the sun and moon by a displacement of the earth, to a corresponding extent, from the centre of the circles they were assumed to describe.
The rotation curve is a plot of the orbital velocity of the clouds around the galactic center vs. their distance from the Galaxy center.