Redshift: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

Diagram illustrating the Doppler shift in astronomy, showing how absorption lines in a color spectrum move toward violet for approaching objects and toward red for receding objects, with labeled comparison spectra.

Oval map of the cosmic microwave background radiation from NASA's WMAP mission, showing a mottled pattern of blue, green, yellow, and red representing temperature variations.

Distant galactic cluster, as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.This group consists mainly of irregular galaxies; its red colour is a product of red shift.

See All Images →

Topics

gravitational red shift Mössbauer effect thermal red-shift Hubble constant Expanding universe How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?

Key People

default image

Halton Christian Arp

American astronomer

Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) Polish astronomer. In 1543 he published, forward proof of a Heliocentric (sun centered) universe. Coloured stipple engraving published London 1802. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

All About Astronomy