Extendable Universe

1986/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astrofisika

Being such an extended and accepted idea of the expansion of the universe, many people are surprised when the astronomer listens that they are not at all in accordance with this idea. Although many astronomers believe that the red shift in the spectrum of distant objects is a sign that they are moving away from Earth, others think this phenomenon can be explained by other theories.

Another theory used to explain this shift to red is that of "tired light." It was first proposed in 1929 by the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky. This theory proposes a constant loss of energy as photons travel through space. As the light coming from far towards us makes a longer path, it loses more energy and we see it shifted towards the red of the spectrum.

Recently, astronomer La Violette has used two models to explain four different observations. According to their conclusions, in these four cases the “tired light” model has explained the observations better.

Where is the truth?