other at the time when the light was emitted, resolved along the line of sight. In the existing state of double-star astronomy, this effect would be masked by errors of observation.
Villarceau also examined the consequences of supposing that the velocity of light depends on the velocity of the source by which it is emitted. If, for instance, the velocity of light from a star occulted by the moon were less than the velocity of light reflected by the moon, then the apparent position of the lunar disk would be more advanced in its movement than that of the star, so that at emersion the star would first appear at some distance outside the lunar disk, and at immersion the star would be projected on the interior of the disk at the instant of its disappearance. The amount by which the image of the star could encroach on that of the disk on this account could not be so much as 0″·71; encroachment to the extent of more than 1″ has been observed, but is evidently to be attributed for the most part to other causes.
Among the consequences of the finite velocity of propagation of light which are of importance in astronomy, a leading place must be assigned to the principle enunciated in 1842 by Christian Doppler,[1] that the motion of a source of light relative to an observer modifies the period of the disturbance which is received by him. The phenomenon resembles the depression of the pitch of a note when the source of sound is receding from the observer. In either case, the period of the vibrations perceived by the observer is (c + v)/c × the natural period, where v denotes the velocity of separation of the source and observer, and c denotes the velocity of propagation of the disturbance. If, e.g., the velocity of separation is equal to the orbital velocity of the earth, the D lines of sodium in the spectrum of the source will be displaced towards the red, as compared with lines derived from a terrestrial sodium flame, bs about one-tenth of the distance between them. The application of this principle to the determination of the relative velocity of
- ↑ Abhandl. der K. Böhm, Ges. der Wissensch. (5) ii (1842), p. 465.
