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Recessional velocity is the rate at which an extragalactic
astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxi ...
object recedes (becomes more distant) from an observer as a result of the
expansion of the universe The expansion of the universe is the increase in distance between any two given gravitationally unbound parts of the observable universe with time. It is an intrinsic expansion whereby the scale of space itself changes. The universe does not ex ...
. It can be measured by observing the wavelength shifts of
spectral line A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from emission or absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to ident ...
s emitted by the object, known as the object's cosmological redshift.


Application to cosmology

Hubble's law Hubble's law, also known as the Hubble–Lemaître law, is the observation in physical cosmology that galaxies are moving away from Earth at speeds proportional to their distance. In other words, the farther they are, the faster they are moving a ...
is the relationship between a galaxy's distance and its recessional velocity, which is approximately linear for galaxies at distances of up to a few hundred megaparsecs. It can be expressed as :v_r = H_0 D\ + v_ where H_0 is the
Hubble constant Hubble's law, also known as the Hubble–Lemaître law, is the observation in physical cosmology that galaxies are moving away from Earth at speeds proportional to their distance. In other words, the farther they are, the faster they are moving ...
, D is the
proper distance Proper length or rest length is the length of an object in the object's rest frame. The measurement of lengths is more complicated in the theory of relativity than in classical mechanics. In classical mechanics, lengths are measured based on t ...
, v_r is the object's recessional velocity, and v_ is the object's
peculiar velocity Peculiar motion or peculiar velocity refers to the velocity of an object relative to a ''rest frame'' — usually a frame in which the average velocity of some objects is zero. Galactic astronomy In galactic astronomy, peculiar motion refers to ...
. The recessional velocity of a galaxy can be calculated from the
redshift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in fr ...
observed in its emitted spectrum. One application of Hubble's law is to estimate distances to galaxies based on measurements of their recessional velocities. However, for relatively nearby galaxies the peculiar velocity can be comparable to or larger than the recessional velocity, in which case Hubble's Law does not give a good estimate of an object's distance based on its redshift. In some cases (such as the
Andromeda Galaxy The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gal ...
, 2.5 million
light-year A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distance, astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 Orders of magnitude (numbers)#1012, trillion kilometers (), or 5.88  ...
s away and approaching us at 300 km/s, or even
Messier 81 Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of . Because of its relative proximity to the Milky W ...
at 12 million light-years away and approaching at 34 km/s) v_r is negative (i.e., the galaxy's spectrum is observed to be blueshifted) as a result of the peculiar velocity.


References

Observational astronomy {{Astronomy-stub