What causes a redshift in light from stars?

Answer 1

No. The Doppler shift tells us if the object is moving toward us or away, and how fast. But it says nothing at all about whether, or how fast, the object is moving to the side. Doppler tells us about the part of the velocity that is TOWARD or AWAY. It says nothing about its velocity left, right, up or down.

Answer 2

A redshift in light from stars is caused by the Doppler effect, where the source of light is moving away from an observer. As the source moves away, the light waves get stretched, causing a shift towards longer wavelengths, which appear red. This shift is commonly observed in the light from stars in distant galaxies due to the expansion of the universe.

Answer 3

The Doppler effect tells Astronomers whether a star, or galaxy, is approaching or going away from us. It turns out the farther a galaxy is away, the faster it gets away from us - meaning that the Universe is expanding.

Answer 4

The "related link" below explains the basic idea, without too much mathematics.

Einstein's Theory of Relativity is needed to get exact answers, but I'm pretty sure that's not required by this question.

On the Home Page of this link, look for "Curriculum Projects" and

then click on "NAAP Labs".

Then click on "Extrasolar Planets".

Finally, click on "Doppler Effect".

Answer 5

I think the question is "wrong". You can't measure the distance to a star using the Doppler effect.

If a star is receding from you, its light will have a "redshift". That means the wavelength of the light has become longer. However, that tells you nothing about its distance.

You can use a redshiftto measure the distance toa galaxy, but not to stars in our Galaxy.

In fact, changes in the color of light are only related to distance for remote galaxies outside our "Local Group" of galaxies.

(Strictly speaking its not actually even a Doppler effect, but a "cosmological redshift".)

Answer 6

The mathematics of the Doppler effect, when applied to the shift in frequency exhibited by the

components of the spectra from stars and planets, reveals the speed with which each one is

approaching or receding from the earth. (Radial component of velocity only.)

Answer 7

Doppler shift is a change in the frequencey of an object, when it moves toward you, or away from you. It helps astronomers in that it makes it possible to measure the radial velocity (the part of the velocity that is away from us or towards us). Specifically, it is the Doppler shift that has made it clear that our Universe is expanding.

Answer 8

The redshift can occur in the stars in our Galaxy that are moving away from Earth due to something called the Doppler Effect.

It is also seen in distant galaxies (outside our "Local Group" of galaxies).

The effect in this case is due to the expansion of space, but it's similar to the Doppler Effect.

If an object emitting waves such as light (or sound) is moving away from an observer, the frequency of those waves will be decreased.

The waves are "stretched out". So, we observe lower frequencies and longer wavelengths.

The lowest frequency of light we see is red, so the light of an object moving away is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum, or "redshifted".

In fact light can be shifted to the infrared and lower frequencies, but we still call it a redshift. A "redshift" is simply a shift towards lower light frequencies.

The Universe as a whole is expanding. As a result, most galaxies are moving away from us. The farther they are, the faster they move.

Answer 9

In Astronomy, the Doppler effect is used to determine whether a star or other body in space is moving away from or toward Earth.

Answer 10

It isn't always - sometimes it is blue shifted, depending on the direction, the Doppler change in color can be either.