[2607.28512] De mora luminis: Roemer's discovery 350 years later

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arXiv:2607.28512 (physics)

[Submitted on 30 Jul 2026]

Title:De mora luminis: Roemer's discovery 350 years later

Authors:Fabio Falchi, Riccardo Furgoni, Paolo Gattillo, Maurizio Francesio<br>View a PDF of the paper titled De mora luminis: Roemer's discovery 350 years later, by Fabio Falchi and 2 other authors

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Abstract:350 years from the 1676 announcement of the Roemer's discovery that light propagates with finite speed, we present our observations using eyes with telescopes having similar resolution compared to those in the late 17th century. We confirmed that Roemer's method is valid and gives reasonable values for the speed of light c, within about 10 per cent of the modern value for our measurements, even with the simplest modelling technique, using uniform circular motions. We found that increasing the complexity of the model, e.g., by taking into account the elliptical orbit of Jupiter, does not necessarily bring the results closer to the value of c due to the influence of other perturbations. Using modern ephemerides yields a noticeably accurate result of c=(298200+-1900) km/s. This experience can have great didactic value by showing the interconnections between formulation of hypotheses and the consequent predictions, making observations, reducing data, and searching for alternative explanations for the same phenomenon. Lastly, we also found, in the correspondence between Roemer and Huygens, that Roemer in 1677 searched for an independent confirmation of what he found during previous years observing Io's eclipses by making observations and reducing the data of the meridian transits of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter.

Comments:<br>11 pages, 4 figures, 6 tables. Author-formatted version of the article published in European Journal of Physics 47 (2026) 025802

Subjects:

History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Classical Physics (physics.class-ph); Physics Education (physics.ed-ph)

Cite as:<br>arXiv:2607.28512 [physics.hist-ph]

(or<br>arXiv:2607.28512v1 [physics.hist-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.28512

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arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

Journal reference:<br>European Journal of Physics 47 (2026) 025802

Related DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6404/ae3f66

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DOI(s) linking to related resources

Submission history<br>From: Fabio Falchi [view email]<br>[v1]<br>Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:50:35 UTC (1,455 KB)

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View a PDF of the paper titled De mora luminis: Roemer's discovery 350 years later, by Fabio Falchi and 2 other authors<br>View PDF<br>HTML (experimental)<br>TeX Source

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