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HubbleLaboratory
Inthisonlinelaboratoryyouwillexaminerealspectrafromvariousgalaxies.Youwilldeterminetheredshiftofcertainspectrallinesfromthegalaxytocalculateitsrecessionalvelocity.Thedistanceofthegalaxywillbefoundindatalinkedtothegalaxyinquestion.ThegalaxyspectrawereobtainedbyRobertC.KennicuttJr.oftheUniversityofArizona,andarepublishedinTheAstrophysicalJournalSupplementSeries,volume79,pages255-284,1992,andarealsoavailableontheWWW.Thanks.
Anexampleofthespectra
ThegraphontheleftshowstheabsorptionlinesfromthegalaxynamedNGC1357.ThetwolinesCaKandCaHaretheabsorptionlinesmeasuredinthelab.Theredarrowspointtothesamelinesthathavebeendetectedfromthegalaxy.Notetheyhavebeenmovedtothelongerwavelengthsofthespectrum,ie,redshifted.Calculatetheredshiftforbothlinesandfindtheaverageredshiftvalue.
Clickthetelevisiontoseeanexampleofhowtocalculatetheredshiftandclickthegalaxyimagetogotothelab