How Does Hubble's Law Calculate Redshift for Distant Galaxies?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around using Hubble's Law to calculate the redshift of a distant galaxy, specifically one located 10^10 light years away. The subject area includes cosmology and the implications of special relativity in the context of astronomical measurements.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Conceptual clarification

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to apply Hubble's Law using a specific value for the Hubble constant but encounters a contradiction with special relativity. Participants discuss the validity of using Hubble's Law for such a distant object and question the assumptions behind the calculations.

Discussion Status

Participants are exploring different interpretations of the Hubble constant and its application. Some guidance has been offered regarding the use of Hubble's Law, with a note that it may not be suitable for very high redshifts, yet there is recognition that it might still be expected for educational purposes.

Contextual Notes

There is a mention of the limitations of Hubble's Law when applied to objects receding at speeds close to or exceeding the speed of light, as well as the distinction between different units of measurement for the Hubble constant.

SN1987a
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How would one use hubble's law to find the redshift of a galaxy[itex]10^10[/itex] light years away? (in other words [itex]3*10^9 pc[/itex])

All I know however is the version of hubble's where [itex]v=H_o d[/itex], with [itex]H_o=71 \frac{m}{s*pc}[/itex], which tells me that [itex]v= 2.2*10^11 m/s[/itex]. But this violates the second principle of special relativity!

How do I get around this problem?
 
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Yeah, but km/sMpc is the same as m/spc, is it not? So that doesn't change my problem a whole lot.
 
well if you plug in the numbers you will find that you should get a reasonable answer. And no they aren't the same. m/skpc would be the same as km/sMpc.
 
SN1987a said:
How would one use hubble's law to find the redshift of a galaxy[itex]10^10[/itex] light years away? (in other words [itex]3*10^9 pc[/itex])

Well, big man is right about your value of Hubble's constant, but one really shouldn't use Hubble's law to find the distance or speed of an object at 3 Gpc. Hubble's Law is just a first order approximation approximation to whatever cosmological model describes the universe that we live in. This approximation is only valid if the object's recession speed is much less than the speed of light (for your purposes, this corresponds to redshifts <~ 0.1).

Even when you put in the correct value of Hubble's constant, you'll get v ~ 0.7c, so Hubble's Law will give a pretty inaccurate result. However, if this is a homework assignment and you've just learned basic cosmology, I suspect that your teacher wants you to use Hubble's Law anyway.

By the way, objects can recede from us at rates greater than the speed of light. This is because the object isn't moving through space, the space itself is expanding. The expansion of space is not restricted by the speed of light.
 

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