B The Colors of The Moon (Doppler Effect)

  • B
  • Thread starter Thread starter dom_quixote
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Doppler effect Moon
AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on the feasibility of detecting the Doppler effect of sunlight reflected off the Moon from Earth's surface. Participants outline the Moon's elliptical orbit, its average distance from Earth, and the speed of the Moon in its orbit. Calculations suggest that the Doppler shift resulting from this effect is extremely small, approximately 2.2 picometers for a specific wavelength. There is skepticism about current technology's ability to detect such a minute shift, despite acknowledging significant frequency deviations in signals from low-orbit satellites. Overall, the consensus leans toward the detection being too challenging with existing technology.
dom_quixote
Messages
50
Reaction score
9
Hey guys!

I will pass an illustrated problem, below.
moonlight.JPG


- We know that the solar rays that reach the Moon and Earth are practically parallel;

- We know that the lunar orbit with respect to Earth lasts 27.322 days or 2,360,621 seconds;

- We know that the lunar orbit with respect to the Earth is elliptical;

- We know that 27.322 days the distance between the Moon and Earth varies between 362,600 km and 405,400 km.

In order to simplify our calculations, let us consider an average circular orbit:

[405,400,000 m + 362,600,000 m] / 2 = 384,000,000 m

The perimeter of the average lunar orbit is equal to:

2 * pi * 384,000,000 m = 2,412,743,158 m

The speed of the Moon relative to its average orbit is:

2,412,743,158 m / 2,360,621 s = 1,022.7 m/s

We ask:

Do we have enough technology to detect the Doppler effect of sunlight reflected by the Moon from the Earth's surface?
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
From your numbers I calculate v/c = 3.4E-6. Balmer spectre of n=3 has wave length of 656 nm would undertake the wave length difference of 2.2 pico meter. I am not good at relevant technologies at all but suppose the effect is too tiny to detect.
 
  • Like
Likes dom_quixote
There are some narrow lines:
moonspec.jpg

NIST
 
  • Like
Likes dom_quixote and anuttarasammyak
Publication: Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars Article: NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year Press conference The ~100 authors don't find a good way this could have formed without life, but also can't rule it out. Now that they have shared their findings with the larger community someone else might find an explanation - or maybe it was actually made by life.
TL;DR Summary: In 3 years, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope (or rather, a system of telescopes) should be put into operation. In case of failure to detect alien signals, it will further expand the radius of the so-called silence (or rather, radio silence) of the Universe. Is there any sense in this or is blissful ignorance better? In 3 years, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope (or rather, a system of telescopes) should be put into operation. In case of failure to detect...
This thread is dedicated to the beauty and awesomeness of our Universe. If you feel like it, please share video clips and photos (or nice animations) of space and objects in space in this thread. Your posts, clips and photos may by all means include scientific information; that does not make it less beautiful to me (n.b. the posts must of course comply with the PF guidelines, i.e. regarding science, only mainstream science is allowed, fringe/pseudoscience is not allowed). n.b. I start this...
Back
Top