Chapter 15 Chapter Fourteen Three Hundred and Fifty-Four and a Half Hours of Darkness

At the moment when this strange phenomenon suddenly occurred, the projectile was passing the North Pole at a distance of less than fifty kilometers.In a matter of seconds it was plunged into absolute darkness.Things come so suddenly, there is no change in color, no gradual decrease in luminosity, and no gradual weakening of light waves. It seems that the celestial body in the night has been blown out by someone. "The moon is melted and lost!" exclaimed Michel Ardan in amazement. In fact, the moon disk, which was dazzling just now, has not even a glimmer of light, a shadow, and nothing left.There was darkness all around, and it seemed even darker against the shining starlight.It is this "darkness" that envelops the lunar night that lasts for 354 and a half hours.The reason why the night of the moon is so long is that the time of its revolution around the earth and its rotation are equal.After the projectile enters the conical shadow of the earth's satellite, it is as unaffected by the sun's rays as the invisible part of the moon.

The interior of the projectile is therefore completely dark.Everyone can't see anyone.This requires dispelling the darkness within.However much Barbicane wished to save the meager reserves of gas, he was obliged to borrow this gas to produce artificial light, which the sun refused to supply, how much they wasted this precious material! "To hell with the radiant celestial body!" exclaimed Michel Ardan, "it no longer supplies us with the sun's rays free of charge, so that we have to waste gas!" "The sun is not to be blamed," went on Nicholl, "for it is not its fault; the moon is to be blamed, for it lies between us and the sun and hides us."

"The sun is to blame!" Michelle said again. "The moon should be blamed!" Nicholl was not to be outdone. A word from Barbicane put an end to this idle quarrel: "My friends, it is neither the fault of the sun nor the fault of the moon. It is the fault of the projectile, for it did not follow its orbit exactly, and it clumsily departed from it. But say To be more just, it is the fault of that odious bolide, which should not have so shamefully diverted us from our course." "Well," replied Michelle Adam, "now that the matter is settled, let's have breakfast. We should be recovering from our observations all night."

No one objected to the proposal.In just a few minutes Michelle had breakfast ready.However, it was just eating for the sake of eating, and no one raised a glass to toast, nor shouted "Hurrah!" The three brave travelers were taken into a dark space, without the company of the sun they had long been accustomed to, There seemed to be a vague feeling of uneasiness creeping up slowly in my heart.Victor Hugo's so beloved "unruly darkness" seemed to oppress them from all sides. At this moment they were talking of the three hundred and fifty-four hours, that is to say, the long night of fourteen days and nights, which the laws of nature imposed on the Moonman.Barbicane explained to his two friends the causes and consequences of this strange phenomenon.

"Of course it is a curious phenomenon," said he, "for if each hemisphere of the moon is without sunlight for fifteen days, the hemisphere over which we are now drifting is not even close to it." In the long dark night, there is no blessing to see the shining earth. In a word, only one side of the moon has a "moon". Our earth is the "moon" of the lunar people. Then, if the earth is like this, for example, if Europe always looks If you don't see the moon, and you can only see the moon from its opposite point, you can imagine how surprised a European would be if he came to Australia."

"We'll take long trips just to see the moon!" Michelle replied. "Then," continued Barbicane, "those Lunarians who live on the side opposite to the Earth, that is, on the side never seen by our terrestrial fellow-creatures, will be so amazed. "If we are in the new moon period, that is to say, if we come here after half a month, we will be able to see it clearly." "I add, on the contrary," continued Barbicane, "that the men of the moon, on the visible side, are far more fortunate than their brethren in the bounty bestowed upon them by nature. For their brothers, during the night of three hundred and fifty-four hours, no light penetrated their darkness; they, on the contrary, after the sun had shone for them for fourteen days, had hardly sunk below the horizon, and they would see On the other side rises a brilliant celestial body. This celestial body is the earth. The earth is twelve times larger than the moon we are familiar with: therefore its light is also twelve times stronger, and it is not affected by any atmosphere: besides, the earth is only in the sun. The moment of reappearance disappears."

"Quick line:" said Michel Ardan, "it's kind of preppy." "Therefore," continued Barbicane, without even wincing his brow, "it must be very comfortable to live on the visible side of the moon, since here, when the moon is full, you can see the sun, Earth can be seen during the new moon." "However," said Nicholl, "this benefit is likely to be outweighed by the unbearable heat brought on by the light." "From this point of view, both sides of the Moon are equally disadvantageous, since the Earth's reflection is evidently devoid of heat. But the invisible side is always tested by greater heat than the visible side. My words are To you, Nicholl, because Michel may not understand."

"Thank you," Michelle said. "In fact," continued Barbicane, "it is precisely the period of the new moon when the invisible side receives light and heat at the same time, that is to say, when the three celestial bodies meet exactly in one line, and the moon belongs to the Between the sun and the earth. Therefore, compared with the period of the full moon, it is much closer to the sun, which is exactly twice the distance between the moon and the earth. This distance can be estimated as 1/200th of the distance between the sun and the earth, rounded up to an integer , that is two hundred thousand leagues. Therefore, when the invisible side receives the sunlight, it is two hundred thousand leagues nearer to the sun."

"Exactly," Nicholl replied. "On the contrary..." continued Barbicane. "Wait a moment, please," Michel interrupted his solemn companion. "what are you going to do?" "I want to explain it to you." "why?" "To prove that I have understood." "Please," said Barbicane, smiling. "On the contrary," said Michel, imitating the tone and gestures of Chairman Barbicane, "on the contrary, when the visible side of the moon receives the sunlight, it is exactly the full moon period of the moon, that is to say, the earth It lies between the sun and the moon. It is, therefore, much farther away from the radiant celestial body than at the time of the new moon, rounded up to two hundred thousand leagues, and naturally receives less heat."

"Well said!" exclaimed Barbicane. "You know, Michel? You're very clever for an artist." 'Yes,' replied Michele nonchalantly, 'that's true of us Boulevard Italians! " Majestically shaking the hand of his lovely companion, Barbicane went on to enumerate the advantages of the lunar inhabitants of the visible side. He cites, among other things, that only this side of the moon can observe a solar eclipse, since the moon must be on the other side of the earth for this to happen.A solar eclipse caused by the Earth being between the Sun and the Moon can last up to two hours, and, due to the refraction of the Earth's atmosphere, the Earth appears as a dark spot on the Sun. "In this way," said Nicholl, "this invisible hemisphere is not favored by nature, and it always suffers everywhere."

"Yes," answered Barbicane, "but not entirely at a disadvantage. Because of a libration of the moon, that is, a swing about its center, the moon can reveal a little more than half of the earth. It is like a pendulum." , the center of gravity is often biased toward the earth, and there is a regular swing. Why does this swing happen? This is because its rotation speed is equal, but its revolution speed along the elliptical orbit around the earth is constant Fast and slow. At perigee, the revolution speed prevails, so the moon exposes a small area to the west. At apogee, the opposite is true, and the rotation speed prevails, so the moon exposes a small area to the east. Sometimes it is in the west This spindle-shaped area sometimes exposed to the east is about eight degrees wide. We can therefore see 569 thousandths of the total area of ​​the Moon." "It doesn't matter," Michelle replied, "if we become moonmen too, we'll live on the side we can see. Me, I love sunshine!" "But," retorted Nicholl, "according to some astronomers, the atmosphere of the moon is condensed on the other side." "Worth mentioning," Michelle replied simply. By this time breakfast was over, and the three observers resumed their posts.They extinguished all the lights in the projectile and tried to look out through the dark porthole.But there was no light except darkness. Barbicane was obsessed with an inexplicable fact.Why did the projectile not land when it passed through such a short distance—about fifty kilometers?We can understand if its speed is great.Now, its speed has been relatively reduced, but it can still resist the suction of the moon, which cannot be explained.Is the projectile not affected by another force, is there another body which keeps it in the ether from falling?It is now evident that it will never land anywhere on the Moon again.Where is it going?Is it getting farther and farther away from the moon or is it getting closer?Will it be carried into infinite space in this dark night?All these many questions troubled Barbicane, but he could not solve them:. In fact, there was this invisible celestial body, only a few leagues, perhaps a few miles, from them, but neither his companions nor he could see it.If there is any sound on the surface of the moon, they will not be able to hear it.Because there is no medium for carrying sound - air, so they can't hear the moan of the "person whose half body has turned into granite but whose heart is still beating" in Arabian legend! We must admit that even the more patient observer can be irritated.Now flying under their eyes is a hemisphere that humans have not yet recognized!If it had been fourteen days ago, or fourteen days later, this side of the moon would have been brilliantly illuminated by the sun, but now it is hidden in absolute darkness, and nothing can be seen.Fifteen days later, where is the projectile?Where do these several attractions take it by chance?Who can answer? Generally speaking, according to the observation of lunar geography, everyone admits that the composition of the invisible side of the moon is absolutely the same as that of the visible side.