"Paul B. Andersen" wrote in message
...

| So when different wavelengths are observed for
| the H-alpha spectral line, it is not because the wavelengths
| are Doppler shifted differently, but because the wavelengths of
| the H-alpha spectral lines are different at the different sources?

There are no silly questions ... just idiotic ones.



| And when we measure a cyclic shift in the H-alpha wavelength from a star,
| we cannot conclude that it is a cyclic shift in the radial speed
| of the star, but must conclude that the wavelength of the H-alpha
| transition in all the Hydrogen atoms in that star by some mysterious
| reason undergo a cyclic change?

Speed = distance * frequency.
Since the source has not changed frequency and the wavelength
is cyclic, it follows that the speed is cyclic.