An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The scale beyond which for a thin, rotating disk, rotation stabilizes self-gravitational contraction. The Toomre length is given by: λ_T = 4π²GΣ / κ², where G is the → gravitational constant, Σ is the mass → surface density, and κ is the → epicyclic frequency (Toomre 1964, ApJ 139, 1217).

See also: → Toomre parameter; → length.