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You've probably heard the old classical description of the Doppler effect; if you're standing still near a train track, you can hear the sound of the moving train shifted to a higher frequency as the train is coming toward you, and as the train passes by, you can hear the sound shift down in pitch. The sound waves are bunched up a bit as the train is coming toward you, and you hear the train at an increased tone; when the train passes by and moves away from you, the sound waves are stretched out so you hear the sound at a lower pitch. By measuring the change in the sound, you can calculate quite accurately how fast the train was moving when it passed by.

For stars, we're not listening to a tone; we're measuring the light spectrum, but the principle is the same.

We know what the "normal" frequencies in the starlight would be, for a star not moving towards us or away from us.

We measure specific spectrum patterns called "absorption lines".

We can detect shifts in these patterns.

So, we can measure whether the star is coming toward us (spectral lines at higher frequencies than normal) or is headed away from us (spectrum showing lower frequencies than normal).

When we measure the light - and the Doppler shift - of other stars in our Galaxy, we see a mix of stars moving toward us, and stars moving away from us. This is perfectly normal.

But when we measure the Doppler shift of the light from other galaxies, we see that most of the other galaxies are moving away from us, and that the farther away they are, the faster they are moving!

Note: For those who like a bit of extra detail: The change in the light from distant galaxies is not a true Doppler shift. It's similar, but is caused by the expansion if space itself.

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Related Questions

What shift of color do you receive from stars as you get closer?

Blue shift as you get closer because by the Doppler effect, the frequency of the light increases, so the light seems more blue. Using the same logic, there is a red shift for light as you move away from stars.


How can you use Doppler shift in a sentence?

Doppler shift is the change in frequency of a wave that seems to occur as it moves. Scientists study the doppler shift to see whether stars are moving away from or toward our galaxy.


When do we experience the Doppler shift?

We experience the Doppler shift when there is relative motion between a source of waves (such as sound or light) and an observer. This shift causes a change in frequency or wavelength of the waves depending on the direction of their motion relative to each other. doppler shift is commonly noticed in scenarios like the change in pitch of a siren as it passes by or the color shift of stars due to their motion in space.


What is the for the change in a stars spectrum when it moves away from earth?

Doppler shift


How is the Doppler effect related to star?

Stars moving toward our solar system display blue shift as the light waves are compressed because their motion relative to us is a positive vector. Stars moving away from us create red shift, as the waves are stretched. This is similar to the Doppler Effect in sound waves.


What did christian Doppler invent other than the Doppler radar?

Christian Doppler is best known for the Doppler effect, which explains the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to its source (e.g. the change in pitch of a siren as a car passes by). Besides the Doppler effect, Doppler made important contributions in the fields of optics and astronomy, such as his work on the Doppler shift in light from stars.


Explain why some stars in the milky way galaxy have a blue shift Doppler effect and other stars in the milky way have a red shift Doppler?

A blue-shift means an object is moving towards us, a red-shift means it is moving away from us. Blue-shift and red-shift are changes in frequency of the light we receive, due to the relative movement. This is called the Doppler effect.


What causes reddening of stars?

Three things: 1. Some stars are of such a temperature that much of the energy is in the form of red light (we call these "M" stars); 2. Doppler effects of rapidly receding stars shift their light towards the red of the spectrum (hence, "red shift"); 3. obscuring dust, either in space or the atmosphere (happens every sundown).


Does the Doppler shift of a Stars proper motion and its distance give us its space velocity?

True


How does the Doppler effect affect starlight?

The Doppler effect can shift the wavelengths of light emitted by stars towards the red or blue end of the spectrum, known as redshift or blueshift, respectively. This shift in wavelength can indicate whether a star is moving away from or towards Earth, providing information about its velocity and direction of motion.


How do the spectra of some stars shift?

There is a Doppler shift which results from the relative motion of the star in question, either toward or away from us as we observe it.


How can you measure the time using the stars?

light years