AST-103L Spring 2001: Hubble Redshift-Distance Relation

Cosmology is that branch of astronomy which deals with the structure and evolution of the
Universe as a whole. It is a remarkable fact that a vital clue to the nature of the Universe is
revealed by a very simple observation: the sky becomes dark after the Sun sets. In a stationary
Universe of infinite extent and uniformly strewn with stars, our line of sight would always end at
the surface of a star and the whole sky should therefore appear bright like the Sun. Why, then, is
the sky dark at night? This contradiction is known as Olbers’ paradox. It is resolved nowadays
as being due to the expansion of the Universe, distant sources receding from us at speeds so high
that the intensity of light received from them is greatly reduced. Thus, from this simplest of
astronomical observations can be deduced the expansion of the Universe, a phenomenon which
manifests itself in the motion of galaxies away from the observer, no matter where in the
Universe he is situated.
Although this general recession of other galaxies had been known since about 1920 from the
observations of Vesto M. Slipher and others, the discovery of the expansion of the Universe is
invariably associated with the name of American astronomer Edwin Hubble. In the course of his
investigation of the exterior galaxies, Hubble found that all of the galaxies outside of the local
group were receding from the Milky Way at velocities that became larger with increasing
distance. Astrophysicists readily interpreted Hubble’s relation as evidence of a universal
expansion. The distance between all galaxies in the Universe was getting bigger with time, like
the distance between raisins in a rising loaf of bread, or ink marks on the surface of an inflating
balloon. Any observer in any galaxy, not just our own, would see all the other galaxies traveling
away, with the farthest galaxies traveling the fastest.
This was a remarkable discovery. Today, the expansion is believed to be a result of a “Big
Bang” which occurred between 10 and 20 billion years ago, a date which we can calculate by
making measurements like those of Hubble. Hubble’s relationship is a most important one to the
astronomer not only because it provides a useful method of determining extragalactic distances,
but also because its behavior at great distances from Earth theoretically can provide important
clues concerning the overall properties of the visible Universe. In this exercise, you will derive
the relationship for yourself and examine some of its properties.

Objectives:
Introduction to Cosmology
Determine distances to astronomical objects given their absolute and apparent
magnitudes
Analyze and interpret spectral features from simulated data
Use Doppler shifted spectral lines to calculate velocities of galaxies
Determine the expansion rate of the Universe
Calculate the age of the Universe

Equipment:
Calculator
Lab notebook

Set-Up:
Skim through the exercise before you begin; get familiar with what you’ll be doing so you
have a better idea of how to arrange you notebook. Write up any preliminary information and

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then begin. Make sure you clearly mark answers to questions along the way (don’t make me
search hard for them). Do not forget to credit any collaborators.

I. REDSHIFT

In 1929, Hubble found a correlation between the redshift or velocity of recession of galaxies and
their distances, such that velocities are directly proportional to distances. His law can be
expressed as follows:

V = HoD Equation 1
where V is the velocity of recession, D is the distance in megaparsecs, and Ho is the Hubble
constant, which is usually expressed in units of km/s per Mpc (megaparsec); recall that 1 Mpc =
106 pc.
Recall the Doppler formula
vo ∆λ λ observed − λ rest
= = Equation 2
c λ λ rest
where we can see that positive velocities are redshifted, while negative velocities are blueshifted.
Thus, given an object spectrum with identifiable features and a comparison spectrum whose
features are at known wavelengths, we can calculate the redshift of the object.
We will be observing two lines of singly ionized calcium (Ca II), the H and K lines, which
are located in the near UV portion of the spectrum at 3968.47 and 3933.66 Ångstroms,
respectively. First, you will measure the position of both Ca II lines in each of five galaxies. Then
you will determine how far the galaxy is redshifted, calculate its recession velocities, and use
these, in conjunction with the magnitudes of the galaxies, to derive the Hubble relation.

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK.

1. Explain redshift and what it implies.
2. You should also note that the dimensions of Ho can be expressed as s-1. Do the
dimensional analysis to show how this is possible. (You will use this later to determine
the age of the Universe.)

II. THE DATA

The data you will use in this exercise have been simulated using the Windows version of the
CLEA exercise, The Hubble Redshift-Distance Relation. Five fields of view were selected for
their magnitudes and populations of galaxies: (1) Coma Berenices, (2) Ursa Major I, (3) Ursa
Major II, (4) Corona Borealis, and (5) Bootes. The “telescope” was pointed at each of the regions
and one galaxy from each field of view was selected for spectrometer observations. The
telescope was aligned so that the brightest part of the target galaxy fell across the slit of the
spectrometer. Panel (a) in each of Figures 1 through 5 shows the field of view of the finder scope
with the telescope’s field superimposed while panel (b) in each figure shows the field of view of
the telescope itself with the spectrograph slit superimposed. Here, you can tell the coordinates of
the galaxy cluster (RA and DEC), the date and time of the observation, and telescope status.
In the (c) panels of Figures 1 through 5 we see the spectrum from the galaxy that is in the slit
of the spectrometer. Our spectrometer works in the region from 3900 to 4900 Å, which is clearly
the region we are interested in if we wish to observe the Ca II H and K features. The galaxies

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(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 1. Data from galaxy “1” in the Coma cluster.

clearly show the characteristic H and K absorption features, but they are not in the “right” places.
Normally, these lines would appear at wavelengths of 3968.47 and 3933.66 Å, respectively, if
the galaxies were not in motion. However, the lines will be redshifted to longer wavelengths
depending on how fast the galaxy is receding.
Also in the (c) panels, we find the object identifier, its apparent magnitude, photon count,
integration time, and an estimate of the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The S/N ratio is a measure of
the quality of the data taken to distinguish it from the background noise level. In general, a
spectrum must have a S/N of at least ten to be considered “believable.” On the x-axis of panel (c)
we have the wavelength in Ångstroms and on the y-axis, the relative intensity level.

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(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 2. Data from galaxy “2” in the Ursa Majoris I region.

Go through each spectrum and measure the wavelength of each calcium line. You should be
able to measure to the nearest Ångstrom. Record these values, along with the absolute and
apparent magnitudes of each galaxy in a table similar to that in Table 1. Assume that the absolute
magnitude of all these galaxies is –22 (this is not really correct, but it is close enough for our
purposes here). Once you have this information, you can begin calculating redshifts and
velocities via the methods in Section III.

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(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 3. Data from galaxy “1” in the Ursa Majoris II region.

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK.

3. Why do the spectra have different S/N ratios? Hint: look at the ones with similar
exposure times.
4. Why is the recession velocity of a galaxy always less than the speed of light?
5. What spectral lines are the measurements in this exercise based on?
6. Why are the spectral lines in different places in the spectra of the different galaxies?

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(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 4. Data from galaxy “1” in the Corona Borealis region.

III. THE METHOD

You should recall the distance modulus equation from your AST-301 course:
M − m = 5 − 5 log D Equation 3
where M and m are the absolute and apparent magnitudes, respectively, and D is the distance to
the object in parsecs. Solve this equation for D and calculate distance for each of the five
galaxies. Enter this information in your table. Convert this to megaparsecs and include this in
your table. Round off to one decimal place.

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(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 5. Data from galaxy “1” in the Bootes cluster.

Calculate the change in wavelength of each of the calcium lines by finding the difference
between the observed value and the rest wavelength. With this shift, you can calculate the
velocity of recession of each galaxy from both of its lines, using the Doppler formula (Equation
2). Round the velocities to two decimal places. Find the average velocity of each galaxy using
the information from its two spectral lines.
Now make a Hubble plot by graphing the velocity of a galaxy in km/s vs. the distance to the
galaxy in Mpc. Draw a best-fit straight line to the data; it should go through the origin. The slope
of this line will be the value of the Hubble constant, Ho. To calculate the slope of the line, pick

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two points (not actual data points!) that lie exactly on the line and are easy to measure. Record
the x,y coordinates of the two points and use Equation 4.
y − y2
slope = 1 = Ho Equation 4
x1 − x 2
Record your value for Ho as the “Average Value of Ho” and mark the points you used on your
graph (mark them differently from your actual data points from the calcium lines). Make the
graph as large as practical and do not forget to label it appropriately. [See the handouts on
graphing techniques if you have questions.]

Galaxy λobserved λobserved v (km/s)

Field M (mag) m (mag) D (pc) D (Mpc) K (A) H (A) ∆λK (A) ∆λH (A) vK (km/s) vH (km/s) average
Coma 1
UMa 1 - 2
UMa 2 - 1
Boo 1
CrBor 1

Table 1. Sample layout of data table.

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK.

7. Why should you force your best-fit line through the origin and what does this mean?

IV. THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE

The Hubble Law (Equation 1) can be used to determine the age of the Universe. Using your
average value of Ho, calculate the recessional velocity of a galaxy which is 800 Mpc away.
Verify your answer by looking it up on your Hubble plot. You now have two important pieces of
information: (1) how far away the galaxy is, and (2) how fast it is moving away from you. You
can visualize the process if you think about a trip in your car. If you tell a friend that you are 120
miles away from your starting point and that you traveled 60 miles per hour, your friend would
know you had been traveling for two hours. That is, your trip started two hours ago. You know
this from the following relationship:
Distance
Distance = Rate × Time or Time =
Rate
Thus, 2 hours = (120 miles) ÷ (60 miles/hour).
Now let’s determine when the Universe “started its trip.” The distance is 800 Mpc, but you
must first convert it to km because the velocity is in km/s (1 pc = 3.09 × 1016 m). Calculate how
many seconds ago the Universe started and convert this to years. Record these values in your
notebook. This is your estimate of the age of the Universe!

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK.

8. Based on what you know about the age of the Universe, does your age calculation seem
reasonable? Why or why not?
9. From your results, at what distance does the velocity of recession equal the speed of
light? What is the significance of this distance?

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10. If the Hubble constant were found to be much smaller than your average value, how
would this change the measured age of the Universe? Justify your answer.
11. Figure 6 is a spectrum of a galaxy at rest. (a) Draw the spectrum if the galaxy were very
nearby. (b) Draw the spectrum if the galaxy were very distant.

Relative
Intensity

4000 5000
Wavelength (Å)

Figure 6. Artificial galaxy spectrum at rest.

V. REFERENCES

CLEA Project, The. Hubble Redshift-Distance Relation, Version 0.81, Department of Physics,
Gettysburg College, 1994.
Culver, R.B. An Introduction to Experimental Astronomy, W.H. Freeman and Company, 1984.
Evans, A. Sky and Telescope, April 1978, pp. 299 – 301.
Hackworth, M. PHYS 153 Lab Manual, Idaho State University, 1997 – 2001.
Hemenway, M.K. & Robbins, R.R. Modern Astronomy: An Activities Approach, Revised
Edition, University of Texas Press, 1991.
Hoff, D.B., Kelsey, L.J., & Neff, J.S. Activities in Astronomy, 3rd Edition, Kendall/Hunt
Publishing Company, 1992.
Shaw, J.S., Dittman, M., & Magnani, L. Laboratory Textbook for Elementary Astronomy, 7th
Edition, Contemporary Publishing Company, 1996.
Walker, C. Activities for Natural Sciences 102, University of Arizona, 1999.

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