> Metrology > Refraction and Sightline > arghXiv:2603.06693
Modern Use of the Star-Occultation Method in Contested Horizon Observations
Abstract: A method devised in the 1840s for determining the figure of the Earth by timing the occultation of stars at the horizon was abandoned by its author, who established that it measured atmospheric refraction rather than curvature. The method is in current use. We recorded 96 contemporary applications of it, and find that 91 reproduce the original procedure faithfully, including the correction its author added and later identified as the source of the error. Reported results cluster at the value the correction produces. We are not aware of any contemporary user who cites the abandonment, and the paper announcing it is held by three libraries.