NAME

THE DOPPLER SHIFT AND

THE DETERMINATION OF INTERSTELLAR DISTANCES
I. Spectra
There are three types of spectra: continuous, emission and absorption.
1. A continuous spectrum is emitted by any solid or compressed fluid whose temperature is above absolute
zero. The total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted is a function of the temperature of the object.
The wavelength of maximum energy changes as the temperature of the object changes. For example,
astronomers can relate the temperature of stars to their color, cooler stars emit most of their energy at long
wavelengths and appear red while hotter stars emit most of their energy at shorter wavelengths and appear
blue.
2. An emission spectrum occurs when an electron in an atom moves from a higher energy level to a lower
energy level. The energy which is lost is emitted as a particular wavelength (frequency) of
electromagnetic energy. Since each element (and ion) has a different set of energy levels, these emissions
are characteristic of the element or ion.
3. An absorption spectrum occurs when electromagnetic energy is absorbed in moving an electron from a
lower energy level to a higher energy level. In today's laboratory we shall be mostly concerned with
absorption spectra.
II. Spectroscopy
If light strikes a prism, the different wavelengths (or colors) are bent by different amounts and separated.
You have undoubtedly seen the demonstration in high school in which the teacher used a prism to split
sunlight up into the colors of the rainbow (the spectrum). A spectroscope is a device containing a prism (or
diffraction grating) which allows you to measure the degree of separation, and this degree of separation can
be related to the particular wavelength of light.
The instructor has set up several spectroscopes. The light source is either hydrogen or helium gas. Look at
the spectrum. You will see that it consists of discrete bands of color, each representing a particular
wavelength of light. These wavelengths are emitted when an electron moves from higher to lower energy
levels and are characteristic for this element.
Now it is time to conceptualize. Picture a beam of light consisting of all possible wavelengths passing
through a gas such as hydrogen. Those specific wavelengths which are of the proper energy to move
electrons from lower to higher energy levels will be absorbed. What you will now see in the spectroscope
is a continuous band of color with black lines located at those places where you previously saw the discrete
colors associated with hydrogen. Astronomers use this technique to determine the chemical composition of
the stars. The absorption spectrum of a star reveals which elements and ions are located in its outer layers.
If the sun is out move a spectroscope to a window and look at the suns spectrum. You will see a number of
dark lines. Try to relate these to the various lines you saw for hydrogen and helium. Based on these
observations which elements appear to be most abundant in the sun?

-1-

III. The Doppler Shift

You have all noted that as a train approaches and then passes a railroad crossing there appears to be a
change in the pitch of the horn. This occurs because as the train approaches the crossing more waves are
received per unit time and as it moves away fewer waves are received per unit time. The frequencey (waves
per unit time) changes and so does the pitch. Which way does it change, higher or lower? This change in
pitch is referred to as a Doppler shift.
A similar situation exists in the case of light (electromagnetic radiation). Consider a monochromatic light
source - one which emits light of only one wavelength. This light, when it enters the slit of a spectroscope,
is refracted a certain amount depending on its wavelength (color) and is observed at a certain place in
spectrum. It has a certain frequency. That is, there are a given number of waves received per second. If the
source is approaching, more waves are received per second and the line of the spectrum will be displaced
towards the blue. If the source is receding, there will be a similar decrease in the number of waves per second
and the line will be shifted towards the red. For white light, which is composed of all wavelengths, each
spectrum line is shifted. This shift depends on the color and the speed of approach or recession.
When instruments sufficiently powerful to obtain spectrograms of distant galaxies were developed, scientists
were astounded to find that the spectrum lines were displaced by very large amounts. This meant, if the
displacements were due to a Doppler shift, that the relative motions involved must be extraordinarily large.
Moreover, except for a few of the nearer and brighter galaxies, all of the velocities indicated a recession from
our region of space, and the speeds of recession became larger the more distant the galaxies.
IV. Measuring the Red Shift
In astronomical practice, the spectrum of a star is photographed in the center of a plate and the spectrum
of a stationary source is photographed alongside. The spectrum of the source is called a comparison
spectrum. Usually the lines in the stellar spectrum are shifted with respect to the comparison spectrum. This
shift can be measured and the velocity of the star determined by the Doppler Formula.
A portion of the spectrum for a bright member of each of four galactic clusters is shown on Figure 1. These
spectrograms are idealized and show the K and H lines of ionized calcium. The plate scale is given at the
bottom of Figure 1.
Determine the wavelengths corresponding to the observed positions of the K and H lines. Record these values
in Table I. These wavelengths are the observed wavelengths. The laboratory wavelengths of the K and H
lines (for a stationary source) are 3933 and 3968 Angstrom units respectively. Compute the red-shift, ,
from the relationship: = observed wavelength - laboratory wavelength. Record all values of , together
with the appropriate algebraic sign, in Table I.
According to the theory of the Doppler effect, the change in wavelength of the radiation arising from the
relative motion of the observer and source is given by
'

(1)

where is the laboratory wavelength of the radiation, v is the relative velocity of the source and the observer
and c is the velocity of light, 3.0 x 108 m/sec. The (+) sign indicates separation of source and observer and
the (-) sign indicates approach. A negative velocity, or relative approach of the observer and the galaxy, is
-2-

Figure 1. Portion of the spectrum for a bright member of each of four galactic clusters.
Ursa Major
d = 1,080 x 106 ly

3900

4790

Corona Borealis
d = 1,570 x 106 ly

Bootes
d = 2,830 x 106 ly

Hydra
d = 4,330 x 106 ly

Plate scale: 1 mm = 5 angstroms

-3-

interpreted to indicate the revolution of our sun about the axis of our galaxy. Strictly speaking all observed
galactic velocities should be corrected for the motion of the sun. Compute the observed velocity for each
value of using Equation 1 in the form
v '

(2)

Enter the values in Table 1.

Table 1. Red-shift calculations
Observed
Galaxy

K-line

H-line

K-line

Observed Velocity
H-line

K-line

H-line

Ursa Major
Corona Borealis
Bootes
Hydra
V. The Velocity-Distance Relation
The correlation of greatest interest is that of velocity of recession with distance. For this exercise it will
be assumed that the distances for the galactic systems are known. Use the values on Figure 1. The
determination of galactic distances is a very difficult, but extremely interesting, problem.
Using the graph below plot the observed velocities on the y-axis and the distances on the x-axis. Draw a
smooth curve through the plotted points.
65000
55000

Velocity
km/sec

45000
35000
25000
15000
1000

2000

3000
6

Distance (x 10 light years)

-4-

4000

1. Is the velocity-distance relation linear?

2. Calculate the increase in velocity per million light years (this is the Hubble constant).

3. According to the velocity-distance relation, what would be the distance of a galaxy moving at the speed
of light?

4. If the red limit of the visible spectrum is taken as 7000 Angstrom units, how fast must a galaxy move to
cause the K-line of calcium to disappear from the visible spectrum.

Since there is a regular relationship between the velocity of recession and the distance, we can determine the
distance to any galaxy once its red shift has been measured. This relationship has been valuable to
astronomers over the years and, among other things, has been used to estimate the size of the universe.

-5-