XXXV. Red shifts in the spectra of celestial bodies

The red shift of the spectral lines of B-stars belonging to the Orion Nebula group, relative to the lines of the spectrum of the Nebula itself, is shown to be about ten times larger than the red shift which the theory of relativity predicts on the basis of the known values of their masses and radii. A similar discrepancy is found in the case of O-stars. It is suggested that the red shift may be due to a loss of energy in the radiation field of the star. If Δ v is the change of frequency of the line and v its original frequency, the following formula is proposed. when A is a constant, T the temperature of the radiation field and l the length of path traversed through the radiation field.