What does a red shift in light from distant celestial objects indicate to a scientist on Earth?

Answer 1

A red shift in light from a distant celestial objects indicates different things to different scientists depending on their wisdom. For example Edwin Hubble said the red shift indicated a "hither too unrecognized principle of nature". Other scientists saw an indicator of an expanding universe. My opinion is that Hubble was correct.

My view is that the red shift is an indicator of the equilibrium of the centripetal and centrifugal scalar forces in the universe and atoms! There are at least two red shifts, one due to gravity forces and one due to electric atomic forces.

The gravitational equilibrium gives mv2/r=mcv/r cosV. The red shift is cosV = v/c for gravitational redshift.

The atomic equilibrium occurs in atoms and gives atomic quantum red shift. The forces are e2zc/2r2 = mcv/r cosV; this gives e2zc/2r2 = nhc/r2 cosV and cosV = e2z/2nh = 7.2E-3/n = Alpha the Fine Structure Constant!

With this explanation the red shift is also an indicator of the four dimensional space. The centripetal and centrifugal forces are scalar forces and their balance indicates no expansion or contraction from the center or origin or of the potential energy forces. The Fine Structure Constant is also an indicator of this four dimensional space.

Edwin Hubble, was honest and humble enough to admit to not knowing what the red shift indicates. My position is that the red shift indicates the balance of the scalar forces, including the gravitational and atomic red shift. Maybe the hitherto unrecognized principle of nature will be recognized and the red shift will indicate the universe is in equilibrium?