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Cosmological Redshifts

 So long as velocities of only a few hundred kilometers per second were measured, no one questioned that the frequency shifts for the spiral nebulae indicated relative motion just as they had for stars and planets.
But, during the 1920's and 30's spiral nebulae with Doppler shifts of over 34,000 kilometers per second were discovered.
 In a letter by Hubble to the Dutch cosmologist Willem De Sitter in 1931, he stated his concerns about these velocities by saying "... we use the term 'apparent velocities' in order to emphasize the empirical feature of the correlation. The interpretation, we feel, should be left to you and the very few others who are competent to discuss the matter with authority." Despite this cautionary note, the fact of the matter was that the redshifts measured for the distant galaxies LOOKED like Doppler shifts. The terms 'recession velocity' and 'expansion velocity' were quickly brought into service by astronomers at the telescope, and by pularizers, to describe the physical basis for the redshift.

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