In 1862, Michel Foucault had used a rotating mirror and measured the speed of light to have been 298,000 km/sec. 111 years later, in 1951, Captain Carl Aslakson used a radar to determine the speed of light was 299,792 km/sec. A few years later, Keith Davy Froome used microwave technology to determine the speed of light was 299,792. In 1977 a team of researchers used lasers and measured the speed at 199,796 km/sec.
Today, we report the speed of light as being 300,000 km/sec.
Light can travel in a vaccuum and when it does, it always travels at 299,792,458 meters per second. It can even travel through empty space and matter! Light also travels in straight lines in all directions. The speed of light also doesn't change even if the light source is moving.
[Sources: Wikipedia, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), National High Magnetic Field Laboratory]
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