by Jules Verne
CHAPTER X.
THE OBSERVERS OF THE MOON.
Barbicane had evidently hit upon the only plausible reason of thisdeviation. However slight it might have been, it had sufficed to modifythe course of the projectile. It was a fatality. The bold attempt hadmiscarried by a fortuitous circumstance; and unless by some exceptionalevent, they could now never reach the moon's disc.
Would they pass near enough to be able to solve certain physical andgeological questions until then insoluble? This was the question, andthe only one, which occupied the minds of these bold travellers. As tothe fate in store for themselves, they did not even dream of it.
But what would become of them amid these infinite solitudes, these whowould soon want air? A few more days, and they would fall stifled inthis wandering projectile. But some days to these intrepid fellows was acentury; and they devoted all their time to observe that moon which theyno longer hoped to reach.
The distance which then separated the projectile from the satellitewas estimated at about 200 leagues. Under these conditions, as regardsthe visibility of the details of the disc, the travellers were fartherfrom the moon than are the inhabitants of the earth with their powerfultelescopes.
Illustration: THE TELESCOPE AT PARSONTOWN.
Indeed, we know that the instrument mounted by Lord Rosse at Parsonstown,which magnifies 6500 times, brings the moon to within an apparentdistance of sixteen leagues. And more than that, with the powerful oneset up at Long's Peak, the orb of night, magnified 48,000 times, isbrought to within less than two leagues, and objects having a diameterof thirty feet are seen very distinctly. So that, at this distance, thetopographical details of the moon, observed without glasses, could notbe determined with precision. The eye caught the vast outline of thoseimmense depressions inappropriately called "seas," but they could notrecognize their nature. The prominence of the mountains disappearedunder the splendid irradiation produced by the reflection of the solarrays. The eye, dazzled as if it was leaning over a bath of molten silver,turned from it involuntarily; but the oblong form of the orb was quiteclear. It appeared like a gigantic egg, with the small end turned towardsthe earth. Indeed the moon, liquid and pliable in the first days of itsformation, was originally a perfect sphere; but being soon drawn withinthe attraction of the earth, it became elongated under the influenceof gravitation. In becoming a satellite, she lost her native purity ofform; her centre of gravity was in advance of the centre of her figure;and from this fact some savants draw the conclusion that the air andwater had taken refuge on the opposite surface of the moon, which isnever seen from the earth. This alteration in the primitive form of thesatellite was only perceptible for a few moments. The distance of theprojectile from the moon diminished very rapidly under its speed, thoughthat was much less than its initial velocity,--but eight or nine timesgreater than that which propels our express trains. The oblique courseof the projectile, from its very obliquity, gave Michel Ardan some hopesof striking the lunar disc at some point or other. He could not thinkthat they would never reach it. No! he could not believe it; and thisopinion he often repeated. But Barbicane, who was a better judge, alwaysanswered him with merciless logic.
"No, Michel, no! We can only reach the moon by a fall, and we are notfalling. The centripetal force keeps us under the moon's influence, butthe centrifugal force draws us irresistibly away from it."
This was said in a tone which quenched Michel Ardan's last hope.
The portion of the moon which the projectile was nearing was the northernhemisphere, that which the Selenographic maps place below; for thesemaps are generally drawn after the outline given by the glasses, and weknow that they reverse the objects. Such was the _Mappa Selenographica_of Boeer and Moedler which Barbicane consulted. This northern hemispherepresented vast plains, dotted with isolated mountains.
At midnight the moon was full. At that precise moment the travellersshould have alighted upon it, if the mischievous meteor had not divertedtheir course. The orb was exactly in the condition determined by theCambridge Observatory. It was mathematically at its perigee, and at thezenith of the twenty-eighth parallel. An observer placed at the bottomof the enormous Columbiad, pointed perpendicularly to the horizon, wouldhave framed the moon in the mouth of the gun. A straight line drawnthrough the axis of the piece would have passed through the centre ofthe orb of night. It is needless to say, that during the night of the5th--6th of December, the travellers took not an instant's rest. Couldthey close their eyes when so near this new world? No! All their feelingswere concentrated in one single thought:--See! Representatives of theearth, of humanity, past and present, all centred in them! It is throughtheir eyes that the human race look at these lunar regions, and penetratethe secrets of their satellite! A strange emotion filled their hearts asthey went from one window to the other.
Their observations, reproduced by Barbicane, were rigidly determined. Totake them, they had glasses; to correct them, maps.
As regards the optical instruments at their disposal, they had excellentmarine glasses specially constructed for this journey.
They possessed magnifying powers of 100. They would thus have brought themoon to within a distance (apparent) of less than 2000 leagues from theearth. But then, at a distance which for three hours in the morning didnot exceed sixty-five miles, and in a medium free from all atmosphericdisturbances, these instruments could reduce the lunar surface to withinless than 1500 yards!
