What causes the wavelength of light to increase as it travels from distant objects?
Answer
The continuous expansion of the universe stretching the fabric of space itself.
In addition to the time constraint, the expansion of the universe plays a vital role. As photons travel across the cosmos, the fabric of space itself is continuously stretching. This stretching physically elongates the wavelength of the light traveling through it. This increase in wavelength shifts the light towards the longer, redder end of the electromagnetic spectrum, a process specifically termed cosmological redshift.
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