Aberration of starlight
Aberración de la luz
- Date
- 1729 · confidence high
- Place
- Kew and Wanstead, London, England
- Credited to
- James Bradley
- People
- 👤 James Bradley1693–1762
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
While searching for parallax, Bradley found an annual shift of the stars due to the combination of the Earth's velocity and the finite speed of light. First direct proof of the Earth's orbital motion.
What it led to
- Confirmation of heliocentrism
- Precise measurement of the speed of light
- Discovery of nutation (Bradley, 1748)
Built on
Made possible
- Discovery of Earth's axial nutation1727-1748
- Stellar parallax (61 Cygni)1838
- Precision astrometry