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Q: What does a blue shift in the spectrum indicate?
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How are Doppler blue and red shift different?

A blue shift is observed in the spectrum from an object approaching the observer whereas a red shift is observed for a receding object.


What does a blue and red shift of absorption lines in a spectrum indicate?

Blue shift is a decrease of a signal's wavelength, and/or an increase in its frequency, due to the Doppler Effect. This indicates that the object is moving towards the observer.Red shift is the increase of a signal's wavelength, and/or a decrease in its frequency, due to the Doppler Effect. This indicates that the object is moving away from the observer.


What is the difference between the red shift and the blue shift?

A "redshift" is a change in the light observed from a source to longer wavelengths. That's a change from the blue end of the spectrum to the red end of the spectrum. A "blueshift" is the opposite. It's a change towards shorter wavelengths.


What does a red shift in the spectrum of light from an object indicate about the object?

Usually, that the object is moving away from us. It may also mean that the light comes from a "gravitational well", that is, that the light has to escape from gravity before it reaches us - this will make the light lose some energy, and shift towards the red part of the spectrum.


What does a blue shift of the light from a star indicate?

When light shifts toward the blue end of the spectrum, it is shifting in the direction of shorter wavelengths. This happens when a luminous object, such as a star, is moving toward you. This motion tends to compress the waves which it emits. Stars that are moving away from the observer will instead exhibit a red shift. The waves are stretching out, because of the motion. And because the universe is expanding, red shifts are by far the most common.

Related questions

How are Doppler blue and red shift different?

A blue shift is observed in the spectrum from an object approaching the observer whereas a red shift is observed for a receding object.


What does a blue and red shift of absorption lines in a spectrum indicate?

Blue shift is a decrease of a signal's wavelength, and/or an increase in its frequency, due to the Doppler Effect. This indicates that the object is moving towards the observer.Red shift is the increase of a signal's wavelength, and/or a decrease in its frequency, due to the Doppler Effect. This indicates that the object is moving away from the observer.


What are differences in colors of moving objects in space that are approaching and moving objects that are moving away?

Objects moving toward you will have a blue shift in their spectrum and objects moving away from you will have a red shift in their spectrum. This is known as a doppler shift.


Does the colour of a galaxy reflect its distance away from the earth?

No, however, we can determine whether a galaxy is moving towards or away from us, by looking at the shift in its spectrographic analysis. There are "red shifts" and "blue shifts" in spectrographic results. "Blue shifts" indicate that a galaxy is moving towards us, because the wavelength of the light emitted by the galaxy is compressed, causing it to shift to the blue end of the colour spectrum. "Red shifts" indicate that a galaxy is moving away from us, because the wavelength of the light emitted by the galaxy is being stretched towards the red end of the colour spectrum.


What is the difference between the red shift and the blue shift?

A "redshift" is a change in the light observed from a source to longer wavelengths. That's a change from the blue end of the spectrum to the red end of the spectrum. A "blueshift" is the opposite. It's a change towards shorter wavelengths.


How is the blue shift related to the lifecycle of a star?

Not at all. "Blue shift" refers to a shift of features in the star's spectrum toward shorter wavelengths, for stars that are moving toward us. It has nothing at all to do with the composition or properties of the star itself.


What is a Doppler red shift and a Doppler blue shift?

A Doppler red-shift is a shift in recognizable features of a star's spectrum from the wavelengths where we know they belong toward longer wavelengths. Such a shift can be caused by the star's moving away from us, and that's how it's interpreted when astronomers see it. A Doppler blue-shift is a shift in recognizable features of a star's spectrum from the wavelengths where we know they belong toward shorter wavelengths. Such a shift can be caused by the star's moving toward us, and that's how it's interpreted when astronomers see it.


What turns red in the red shift?

light is put into a spectrum from red to blue. red shift is when a star is moving away from us so fast that the light waves stretch moving it up the spectrum, so up towards infared


What happen to the spectrum of a star moving toward the earth away from the earth?

If a star is moving towards Earth. The light is seen as 'blue shifted'. As we look at our sun, on the colour spectrum, black lines appear. When looking at distant stars, we can tell if they are moving away from us (Red shift) or getting closer to us (Blue shift). This is because the black lines shift to the red or blue end of the spectrum depending on which direction the star is travelling.


What does the blue shift in the spectrum of light from an object indicate the object is moving?

A blue shift in the spectrum of light from an object would indicate that the object is moving towards the observer. The blue shift indicates that the object is under centripetal force. The object may not be moving toward the center if it is balanced by centrifugal force (repulsion) from the center.


Galaxies that show redshift in color must be red in color?

No. You can figure out exactly what elements are in stars and galaxies by examining the color spectrum of the light detected; the frequencies of the bright and dark lines in the spectrum tell you what's what. But there's a problem. For distant galaxies, the light spectrum is wrong. The frequency lines of the spectrum are all too low. One possible explanation of the incorrect spectrum is that those stars and galaxies are MOVING AWAY from us, and that the spectrum is shifted toward the red end of the color spectrum because of the Doppler effect. So scientists believe that the "red-shift" on the color spectrum of stars and galaxies indicate that they are moving away. Not all galaxies show a red-shift; the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, shows a pronounced BLUE-shift, indicating that it is heading TOWARD us. In fact, scientists believe that the Milky Way and Andromeda will probably collide in about 3 billion years.


What does a red shift in the spectrum of light from an object indicate about the object?

Usually, that the object is moving away from us. It may also mean that the light comes from a "gravitational well", that is, that the light has to escape from gravity before it reaches us - this will make the light lose some energy, and shift towards the red part of the spectrum.