Question

An astronomer observes that the wavelength of light from a distant star is shifted toward the red part of the visible spectrum. Which of the following is true? - The distance between the earth and the star is decreasing. - The distance between the earth and the star is remaining constant. - The distance between the earth and the star is increasing.

Answer 1

Answer:

The distance between the earth and the star is increasing.

Explanation:

When we observe an object and its electromagnetic radiation has been displaced to blue, it means that it is getting closer to us, causing the light waves it emits to get closer together and its wavelength to decrease towards blue, this is knowm as blueshift.

On the contrary, when an object is rapidly moving away from us, the light waves or electromagnetic radiation it emits have been stretched from their normal wavelength to a longer wavelength, towards the red part of the spectrum. This is known as redshift.

This phenomenon of changes in wavelength and frequency due to movement (whether the source approaches or moves away) is described by the Doppler effect.

So for this case because the light we perceive from the star has moved to the red part of the visible spectrum, we can conclude that it is moving away from the earth, and that the distance between the star and the earth is increasing.