Doppler Effect from a Moving Source
What you are seeing: a source moving at constant velocity to the right (cyan dot) emits a circular wavefront once per source-frame period . Each wavefront then expands at the wave speed . Because the source moves between emissions, the wavefronts cluster in front of the source and stretch behind it. The coloured bar along the source axis measures the wavelength directly: a short blue ahead and a long warm behind. The source loops: when it leaves the right edge it re-enters from the left and the pattern continues.
Pick any angle from the velocity vector. A stationary observer there hears frequency . In front () the frequency is blue-shifted by ; behind () red-shifted by ; perpendicular () it equals in the non-relativistic limit. Move the source-speed slider toward to see the front wavefronts pile up tightly.
WHAT TO TRY
- Push v/c toward 1: the wavefronts bunch up ahead of the source and stretch out behind, the blue-shifted front and red-shifted wake of the Doppler effect.
- Drag the observer around the source: the received frequency runs from compressed ahead, through f = 1 at the side, to stretched behind, traced live on the bottom frequency-versus-angle curve.
- The forward and backward shifts are not symmetric, lambda_front = c/f - v/f against lambda_back = c/f + v/f, an asymmetry that grows as the source nears the wave speed.