Because - in most cases - they are moving away from us.
However, the Andromeda Galaxy is blue shifted showing it is moving towards us.
The spectral lines of galaxies are redshifted, indicating that they are moving away from Earth. This redshift is typically a result of the expansion of the universe, causing galaxies to move further apart.
Galaxies are moving away from each other in a constantly expanding universe
Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are moving away from us, and the further a galaxy is from us, the faster it is moving away. This phenomenon is known as redshift, where the light emitted from these galaxies is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum due to their motion away from us.
The blue shift phenomenon was discovered by the American astronomer Edwin Hubble in the 1920s. He observed that the light from distant galaxies appeared shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum, indicating that these galaxies were moving away from us. This discovery provided crucial evidence for the expansion of the universe.
Christian Doppler, and Austrian Physcist .
The Big Bang theory predicts an expanding universe. The red shift, being the Doppler effect of light when something is receding from you, confirms this because when looking at galaxies the light emitted from them is red shifted. The farther away galaxies have a higher red shift, confirming that all galaxies are moving away from each other, not just the Milky Way (i.e. the universe is expanding).
The discovery of redshift in the spectra of light from distant galaxies was made by astronomer Vesto Melvin Slipher in the early 20th century. He noticed that many galaxies appeared to be moving away from us based on the shift of their spectral lines towards the red end of the spectrum. This laid the foundation for the theory of the expanding universe.
The observed redshift in the spectra of galaxies indicates that they are moving away from us, which supports the theory of an expanding universe. As galaxies recede, the light they emit stretches to longer wavelengths, shifting toward the red end of the spectrum. This phenomenon is a key piece of evidence for the Big Bang theory, suggesting that the universe has been expanding since its inception. Additionally, the degree of redshift can help astronomers determine the distance and velocity of distant galaxies.
The red end of the spectrum.
This phenomenon is known as the Doppler effect, where the frequency of light waves emitted by a moving object appears shifted depending on whether the object is moving towards or away from the observer. This shift in frequency causes a change in color on the spectrograph, with objects moving towards us appearing blueshifted (shifted towards the blue end of the spectrum) and objects moving away appearing redshifted (shifted towards the red end of the spectrum).
Stellar spectra provide evidence of star motion through the Doppler effect, which causes shifts in the wavelengths of light emitted by a star. If a star is moving towards us, its spectral lines shift towards the blue end of the spectrum (blueshift), while a star moving away from us exhibits a redshift, where spectral lines shift towards the red end. By analyzing these shifts in the spectral lines, astronomers can determine the velocity and direction of a star's movement relative to Earth. This technique has been crucial for understanding the dynamics of stars within galaxies and the expansion of the universe.
Light is red-shifted when the source of the light is moving away from the observer. This causes the wavelength of the light to stretch, resulting in a shift towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum. This phenomenon is a consequence of the Doppler effect in physics.