# Tag Info

5

Yes, radio spectra have been used extensively to find the distances and locations of HI regions and molecular clouds inside the Milky Way. Observations of the 21 cm hydrogen line and/or several carbon monoxide lines (in particular, $\text{CO}(1\to0)$) enable us to make radial velocity measurements of clouds within the galaxy. From there, some geometry (see ...

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This formula is exact if the expansion is linear ($a(t) = H_0 t$) and all peculiar velocities are zero. In that case, the comoving distance to the object is $$\int_{t_\text{then}}^{t_\text{now}} \frac{c\,\mathrm dt}{a(t)} = \frac{c}{H_0} \ln \frac{t_\text{now}}{t_\text{then}} = \frac{c}{H_0} \ln (1{+}z)$$ and the present recessional velocity is $H_0$ times ...

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While @planetmaker's comment is true if the lines come from the same source, you can have lines emerging from different physical processes which still appear to come from the same location. An example is absorption (or more rarely emission) lines from galactic winds, which are typically blueshifted with respect to the "systemic" redshift, i.e. the &...

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Your intuition is correct - a moving source emitting wavefronts periodically will be closer to the previously emitted wave in the direction of motion, and farther from the previously emitted wave in the opposite direction - see the simulation here. You are also correct that the size of the effect depends on the speed of the observer relative to the speed of ...

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