Schmidt at the Mount Palomar Observatory then studied the spectral lines of this ΓÇ£starΓÇ¥ and realized that, if shifted 16 percent, they would be consistent with spectral lines emitted by hydrogen. Such a redshift would normally be produced by an object moving away from us. Schmidt calculated that 3C 273 must be moving at almost 50,000 kilometers a second to produce this redshiftΓÇöfar too fast for a star in our galaxy (typically, stars in the Milky Way move only several hundred kilometers per second). Clearly, there had to be another explanation. Schmidt concluded that the redshift of 3C 273 and other similar objects was caused by the expansion of the universe, a dramatic shift in our view of the universe.
