Redshift describes how light from objects in space (such as stars or galaxies) changes as they move away from an observer. As they travel further away, the wavelength of their light increases ‘shifting’ it towards the red end of the spectrum.
The further away a galaxy is, the more light from it is red-shifted. Scientists have used this to suggest the whole universe is expanding and everything is moving away from everything else.
We were asked by the Royal Astronomical Society to produce a ‘redshift’ scale ruler. They supplied us with the details and we were able to customise our 300mm oval flat scale ruler to accommodate the design.
“The concept came from an academic paper. So in galactic astronomy we measure lots of things in redshift, which is both a distance away, and also how long ago – as the two are linked. So one side of the ruler allows conversion from redshift to time (both since the big bang – Age in Gigayears, and how long ago – lookback).
The other side is more about how big things are on the sky. A size on the sky gets bigger the further away it is — up to a point then gets smaller because the universe was smaller way back when” Royal Astronomical Society
Our digital printing process allows us to fully customise our scale rulers. They’re printed from scratch, so you can specify exactly what’s printed where. We can even print photographic images. For further details please contact us on 01206 272020 or e-mail us at sales@scalerulers.com
