Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen Moon Scenery

At 2:30 in the morning, the shell passed through the thirty-degree latitude, and the actual distance on the surface of the secret moon was one thousand kilometers, but optical instruments could shorten this distance to ten kilometers.It now appears that the shell will never land somewhere on the surface of the moon.Its speed has been reduced relatively, which is incomprehensible to Chairman Barbicane.At this distance, one must have a considerable velocity to be able to resist the suction of the moon.Therefore, this phenomenon cannot be explained for a while.Besides, they didn't have time to study this issue.

The uneven moon surface is constantly receding under the eyes of the passengers, and they don't want to miss any details. Viewed through a telescope, the surface of the Moon appeared to be only two and a half leagues away.What could an aviator on Earth see at such a distance?We can't answer this question, because flying on Earth has never exceeded an altitude of 8,000 meters. We now faithfully relate what Barbicane and his companions saw from this height. Now, there are patches of different colors on the surface of the moon, and lunar scientists have not yet reached a consensus on the nature of these colors.Piece of different colors often form a sharp contrast.Julius.Even if all of Earth's oceans were completely drained, Schmidt argued, it would be impossible for moon-watchers to see between Earth's oceans and continents as many different vibrant colors as Earth-watchers see on the Moon.According to him, the color of all the vast plains on the moon called "seas" is "a dark gray with a greenish-brown tinge. There are also a few great volcanoes of this color.

Barbicane knew the opinion of the German lunar scientist, and so did Messrs. Beer and Madrell.Some astronomers believe that the color of the moon can only be gray.He believed that he and his companions had a right to oppose these astronomers, based on present observations.In some places, the green is very vivid, and Julius Schmidt believes that the "Sea of ​​Tranquility" and "The Sea of ​​Humor" are also the same.Barbicane also noticed that some large volcanoes, without conical calderas inside, had a bluish tint, like the reflection of freshly polished steel.The moon's surface is indeed this color, and it is not caused by a defect in the objective lens or interference from the earth's atmosphere, as several astronomers have said.Barbicane thought that this question could no longer be doubted.He observes through a vacuum, making no optical error possible.He considered the variety of colors on the lunar surface to be a scientific fact.Shouldn't the different shades of green now be attributed to tropical plants that depend on the moon's thin and dense atmosphere for survival?He can't answer it yet.

At a little distance, he found a patch of reddish color, which was very noticeable.The same color had just been seen in the deepest interior of an isolated crater called Lichtenberg.Lichtenberg lies near Mount Ore at the edge of the lunar disk.But he was not yet able to determine the nature of the color. He was no more fortunate with another feature of the lunar surface, for which he too could not say.The feature looks like this: It turned out that Michel was also observing beside Barbicane, and he suddenly noticed a few long white lines, which were very brightly illuminated by the direct sunlight.These are many bright furrows, completely different from the beams of Copernicus not so long ago.The lines are all kept parallel.

Even Michelle, who has always been calm, couldn't help shouting. "Look! Plowing the field!" "Arable land?" said Nicholl, shrugging his shoulders. "At least there are always a few furrows," Michel countered him. "But what wonderful farmers they are, the Lunar Men, and what big oxen their plows must drive to make such furrows!" "It's not a furrow," said Barbicane, "it's a furrow." "Let's just say it's a groove," Michelle said softly. "But what does a groove mean in the scientific world?"

Barbicane immediately told his companions what he knew about the trough.He knows that this is a ditch that can often be seen in places other than the lunar mountains: these ditches often exist alone, with a length ranging from four kilometers to fifty kilometers and a width of one thousand to fifteen hundred meters. The two sides are absolutely parallel.So far did his knowledge, how they were formed, what their nature was, he knew nothing. Holding up his telescope, Barbicane took a close look at these grooves.He noticed that the edges of the trench were very steep.This is a long parallel wall, and if we use a little imagination, we will think that it is a fortification built for lunar engineering.

All these different grooves: some are straight, like ink lines, and some are slightly curved, but the two sides remain parallel.Some cross each other, and some pass through the crater.Here, they pass through lowlands within craters, such as Posidonios and Petavios; there, they cut through "marias", such as the Sea of ​​Tranquility. These natural phenomena are bound to stimulate the imagination of astronomers here on Earth.Early observations missed the trenches, and neither Helvetius, Cassini, Lasier, or Herschel apparently knew of their existence.In 1789, Schrotter's report on grooves first attracted the attention of the scientific community.Later, many other scientists conducted research in this area, including Pastorf, Gruy Tuysen, Bill and Madeleur.Now the number of grooves has increased to seventy.Although we have ascertained their number, we still cannot determine their nature.Of course, it's not fortifications, but it's not dry either

A dry river bed, because, on the one hand, the water on the surface of the moon is so light that it is impossible to wash it into Such crevasses, on the other hand, are some of the trenches that tend to climb up high-lying volcanoes mouth. We should admit, however, that Michel Ardan had a good idea. Intentionally, unintentionally, and Julius Schmidtoff's observations on this issue The law coincides with each other. "Why can't we say," he said, "that this unexplained phenomenon But is it a plant phenomenon? " "What do you mean?" asked Barbicane.

"Please take it easy, my honorable chairman," Michel replied. "These are good Like the black lines of fortifications, can't it be the big trees planted in rows? " "Do you really believe what the plants say?" asked Barbicane. "I really believe," replied Michel Ardan, "that I can explain your Something these scientists can't explain!My assumption is that there is at least one more good , that is, it can explain why these grooves periodically disappear or Those who seem to disappear. " "why?" "Because when these big trees drop their leaves, we can't see them, wait

When the leaves grow again, we can see them again. " "Your explanation is very ingenious, my dear companion," returned Barbicane. Answer, "It's just that we can't accept it." "why?" "Because, we shall say, there are no seasonal changes on the surface of the Moon, and therefore The vegetative phenomenon you mentioned cannot happen. " In fact, the Moon's axial tilt is so small that at each line of latitude, the Sun's altitude remains almost forever the same.At the equator, the sun almost always passes through the zenith, and at the poles, the sun almost never rises above the horizon.Therefore, depending on the region, it is always winter, spring, summer or autumn, and this is also true on Jupiter, because the inclination of Jupiter's axis and its orbit is also very small.

How did these grooves come about?This is an unanswerable question.It is certain that they must have been produced after the formation of the craters and craters, since there are many grooves that break through the ring barriers and enter the craters and craters.Therefore, they may have been produced during the last geological period and can only be attributed to the expansion of natural forces. At this time, the projectile was already close to the fortieth parallel, and the distance from the lunar surface could never be more than 800 kilometers.Objects now appearing in the field of view of the telescope appeared to be only two leagues apart.Here, Helikon Mountain stands at their feet, 505 meters high, and on the left are many bulging hills called "Mandarin Tail Grass Bay", which is located on the edge of the "Rain Sea". The transparency of the earth's atmosphere must be increased by 170 degrees for astronomers to be able to make such perfect observations of the moon.In this vacuum, in which the projectile floats, there is no fluid between the observer's eye and the object being observed.Moreover, Barbicane reduced the distances of the observed objects to distances never reached by the most powerful telescopes; neither John Ross's nor the Rocky Mountain telescopes.Under such favorable conditions, he can always solve the major problem of the habitability of the moon.But he still hasn't found the answer.All he could see was the endless fields of mines and the dry mountains to the north.There is no engineering that can reveal human handicrafts, no ruins that can prove that human beings once existed.There is not even a group of animals of the next level that can explain the existence of life.There is no movement anywhere.There was no sign of plants anywhere.There are three worlds that rule the earth, but only one world that rules the moon: the mineral world. "Alas!" said Michel Ardan despondently, "is there not even one?" "No," Nicholl replied, "until now. Not a single human being, not a single animal, not a single naked tree. But then again, maybe the atmosphere of the moon has escaped into caves, craters, or even the other side The moon is gone, we should not jump to conclusions too soon." "Besides," added Barbicane, "no matter how sharp your eyes are, you cannot see even human beings at a distance of more than seven kilometers. Therefore, if there are Lunarians, they can see our projectiles, but we can't see them." Don't see them." Around four o'clock in the morning, the projectile entered the fifty-degree parallel, and the distance had been shortened to six hundred kilometers.To the left was a winding mountain range, sharply defined in the bright sunlight.On the right, on the contrary, the terrain is low-lying, and there is a large dark hole, as if an unfathomable black well drilled out of the lunar soil. This hole is called "Black Lake" or "Mount Plato". proper research. This black color is very rare on earth satellites.We've only seen this color in the depths of Stemion Crater, east of the "Sea of ​​Cold" in the northern hemisphere, and in the bottom of Grimaldi Crater, on the equator on the eastern edge of the Night Orb. Mount Plato is located at fifty-one degrees north latitude and nine degrees east longitude, ninety-two kilometers long and sixty-one kilometers wide.Barbicane regretted that the projectile failed to pass over this vast cavern.It's really time to explore this abyss, maybe we can find some mysterious phenomenon.Now I have to be patient.We cannot command balloons, much less cannonballs, especially when we are enclosed in them. Around 5:30 in the morning, the projectile finally crossed the northern edge of Imbrium.La Condamine is now on the left and Monte Fontanelle on the right.In this area, facing north from the sixtieth parallel, it is entirely mountainous.The telescope can now reduce the distance of the projectile to the lunar surface to two leagues, lower than that of Mont Blanc.There are peaks and craters everywhere.On the seventieth parallel rises Mount Feroraius, 3,700 meters high, with an oval crater sixteen leagues long and four wide. From such a distance, the view of the moon's disk is very strange.The conditions here are particularly poor, and at the same time very different from those on Earth. The moon has no atmosphere, that is to say, there is no air surrounding the moon. We have already explained the consequences of the lack of air.There is no dawn or dusk on the surface of the moon, as if a lamp is lit in the pitch-black darkness, the night suddenly turns into day, and when the light goes out, day suddenly turns into night again.There is no transition from cold to hot, since the temperature tends to drop suddenly from boiling to freezing. The lack of air has another consequence: where the sun does not shine, there is absolute darkness.There is a phenomenon on Earth called Diffusion of Light, where the air can keep the light half-dark, there is dusk, there is dawn, there is shadow, there is penumbra, there is a magical series of colors of different intensities expressed in black and white.But on the Moon, there is no such diffusion of light.Therefore, only two colors, black and white, alternate with each other, forming a sharp contrast.A lunar man sees absolute darkness in the sky as long as the sun does not reach his eyes, and it seems to him that the stars shine in the dark night. What impression this strange phenomenon made on the minds of Barbicane and his two friends must be left to the reader to figure out.They have been dazzled.They cannot see the relative distance of things.Lunar landscapes have no soft shadows of light and dark, and landscape painters on Earth can do nothing more than a few dozen dots of ink on a blank sheet of paper, that's all. Until the time when the projectile crossed the eightieth parallel, the lunar landscape remained unchanged.It is now only a hundred kilometers from the surface of the moon.At five o'clock in the morning, when we were less than fifty kilometers from Mount Gioia, the view below was still the same, and the telescope could now reduce this distance to one-eighth of a league.It seems as if you can reach the moon with your hand.The shell was evidently about to hit the moon, or even the North Pole: the bright tip of the North Pole was already emerging against the black background of the sky.Michel Ardan wanted to open a porthole and jump to the moon.Jump from the sky twelve miles!He doesn't care.Again, this is a futile attempt, because if the projectile cannot reach the Earth's satellite, 'then Michel, by virtue of his own motion, cannot reach the goal just as well as the projectile. At six o'clock the North Pole of the Moon appeared.Half of the moon disk that appeared under their eyes was illuminated by strong sunlight, and the other half was hidden in the darkness and could not be seen.The projectile passed the dividing line between blazing light and absolute darkness, and plunged suddenly into night.