Glossary of Physical Terms used in the Poems

Red Shift: It was postulated by the astronomer Hubble that the speed at which stars and galaxies are moving away from us in an expanding universe, is in direct proportion to their distance from us - The farther away the galaxies are, the greater their speed. When light is emitted from these galaxies the frequency is shifted to a lower (more red) frequency, in much the same way as a retreating police siren lowers in pitch. In this way a measurement of the emitted light's red shift gives us a measurement of the galaxy's distance from us.