If the peak wavelength of a star at rest is 1375 nm, then what peak wavelength is observed when the star is traveling 975,000 m/

Question

Andrews

4 days ago

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If the peak wavelength of a star at rest is 1375 nm, then what peak wavelength is observed when the star is traveling 975,000 m/

s away from the Earth.

Physics

1 answer:

kicyunya [2.2K] · Answer 1 · 2026-03-22T04:30:22+03:00

The solution relies on the concept of the Doppler effect, which describes the frequency shift of a wave as observed by someone moving relative to the wave source. It can be mathematically represented as follows: Where, c = Speed of light,

= Peak wavelength, $\lambda_s$ = Observed peak wavelength. Given values are: The speed of light is $c = 3*10^8m/s \rightarrow$ . We are interested in the emitted 'relative' frequency as the star recedes, thus we substitute to achieve: Therefore, the peak wavelength noted when the star moves away from Earth at the given velocity is calculated to be 1379.46 nm.