[Grant Holdom]

Grant Holdom  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris,
 
I have a question for the Ben and the Naked Astronomists crowd if you could pass this on please.
 
I understand that the further we look out the greater the tail lights (red shift) on the stars and that this is taken to mean the stars are moving away from us at an increasing rate.
 
However, does this consider the time element?  If we are looking, back over a large chunk of time, doesn't this just mean that they were once accelerating away at an increased rate, and that this acceleration may have slowed over time?  This would still be consistent with observations that the nearer (not so far back in time) the star, the less it is accelerating away from us.
 
Over to the knowledgeable ones!
 
Many thanks in advance.
Love (and am educated by) the shows!
 
Grant (in New Zealand)

What do you think?