Treatise on light : $b In which are explained the causes of that which occurs in reflexion, & in refraction and particularly in the strange refraction of Iceland crystalHuygens, Christiaan
Science
Treatise on light : $b In which are explained the causes of that which occurs in reflexion, & in refraction and particularly in the strange refraction of Iceland crystal
Huygens, Christiaan
Refraction, Double; Wave theory of light
Let it be then supposed, the Earth being at B some time before the
last quadrature, that one has seen the said Satellite emerge from the
shadow; it must needs be, if the Earth remains at the same place,
that, after 42-1/2 hours, one would again see a similar emergence,
because that is the time in which it makes the round of its orbit, and
when it would come again into opposition to the Sun. And if the Earth,
for instance, were to remain always at B during 30 revolutions of this
Satellite, one would see it again emerge from the shadow after 30
times 42-1/2 hours. But the Earth having been carried along during
this time to C, increasing thus its distance from Jupiter, it follows
that if Light requires time for its passage the illumination of the
little planet will be perceived later at C than it would have been at
B, and that there must be added to this time of 30 times 42-1/2 hours
that which the Light has required to traverse the space MC, the
difference of the spaces CH, BH. Similarly at the other quadrature
when the earth has come to E from D while approaching toward Jupiter,
the immersions of the Satellite ought to be observed at E earlier than
they would have been seen if the Earth had remained at D.
Now in quantities of observations of these Eclipses, made during ten
consecutive years, these differences have been found to be very
considerable, such as ten minutes and more; and from them it has been
concluded that in order to traverse the whole diameter of the annual
orbit KL, which is double the distance from here to the sun, Light
requires about 22 minutes of time.
The movement of Jupiter in his orbit while the Earth passed from B to
C, or from D to E, is included in this calculation; and this makes it
evident that one cannot attribute the retardation of these
illuminations or the anticipation of the eclipses, either to any
irregularity occurring in the movement of the little planet or to its
eccentricity.
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