blue shift
Also found in: Dictionary, Wikipedia.
blue shift
orblueshift,
in astronomy, the systematic displacement of individual lines in the spectrumspectrum,arrangement or display of light or other form of radiation separated according to wavelength, frequency, energy, or some other property. Beams of charged particles can be separated into a spectrum according to mass in a mass spectrometer (see mass spectrograph).
..... Click the link for more information. of a celestial object toward the blue, or shorter wavelength, end of the visible spectrum. The amount of displacement is a function of the object's relative velocity toward the observer. Most observed blue shifts are the result of the Doppler effectDoppler effect,
change in the wavelength (or frequency) of energy in the form of waves, e.g., sound or light, as a result of motion of either the source or the receiver of the waves; the effect is named for the Austrian scientist Christian Doppler, who demonstrated the effect
..... Click the link for more information. . The blue shift is the opposite of the red shiftred shift
or redshift,
in astronomy, the systematic displacement of individual lines in the spectrum of a celestial object toward the red, or longer wavelength, end of the visible spectrum. The effect was discovered by V. M. Slipher of Lowell Observatory.
..... Click the link for more information. . Blue shifted celestial bodies are quite rare. Of the billions of known galaxies, only about 100, including the AndromedaAndromeda,
in astronomy, northern constellation located to the NE of Pegasus and to the S of Cassiopeia. Its brightest star, Alpheratz (Alpha Andromedae), marks the northeast corner of the Great Square in Pegasus.
..... Click the link for more information. galaxy, are blue shifted.
blue shift
[′blü ‚shift] (astronomy)
A displacement of lines in the spectrum of a celestial object toward shorter wavelengths, indicating motion of the object toward the observer.