Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen Moon Scenery

At 2:30 in the morning, the shell passed through the 30th parallel, and the actual distance from the lunar surface was 1,000 kilometers, but optical instruments could shorten this distance to 10 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 the problem. 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 called seas on the moon is dark gray with a greenish brown tinge.Several large volcanoes also exhibit 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, Julius.Schmidt (Note: German astronomer and geophysicist in the nineteenth century.) thinks the same is true for the Sea of ​​Tranquility and the Sea of ​​Humor.Barbicane also noticed that some large volcanoes, without conical calderas inside, had a bluish tint, like the reflection of freshly polished steel.The surface of the moon 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.This color was also seen just now in the deepest interior of an isolated crater called Lichtenberg Mountain.Mount Lichtenberg is located 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!arable land! arable land?said Nicholl, shrugging his shoulders. At least always a few furrows, Michel retorted 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 it be a groove, Michele said softly.In the scientific world, though, what does a groove mean? 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 the inner lowlands of craters, such as Posidonios and Petavios; there, they cut through the lunar seas, 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, Schroeter's report on trenches 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, these are not fortifications, but they are not dry riverbeds either, because, on the one hand, the water on the lunar surface is so light that it is impossible to make such breaches, and on the other hand, some grooves tend to climb up the high-lying craters.

However, we should admit, Michelle.Ardan came up with a good idea, inadvertently and Julius.Schmidt's views on this issue coincide with each other. Why can't we say, he says, that this unexplainable phenomenon is nothing more than a vegetal phenomenon? what do you mean?asked Barbicane. Please take it easy, my honorable chairman, Michel replied.Could it not be possible that these black lines, which seemed to be fortifications, were trees planted in rows? Do you really believe what plants say?asked Barbicane. I really believe it, Michelle.Adam replied, I can explain what you scientists cannot explain!My hypothesis would at least have the added benefit of being able to explain why these grooves periodically disappear or appear to disappear.

why? Because when these big trees lose their leaves, we can't see them, and when they grow leaves again, we can see them again. Your explanation is very ingenious, my dear companion, replied Barbicane, but we cannot accept it. why? Because, we should say, there are no seasonal changes on the surface of the moon, so the vegetative phenomena you speak of cannot occur. 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 have exceeded 800 kilometers.Objects now appearing in the field of view of the telescope appeared to be only two leagues apart.Here, Mount Helikon towering at their feet is 505 meters high, and on the left are many round hills called Yuantailcao 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.In addition, Barbicane shortened the distance of the observed object to a distance that the most powerful telescope has never reached; whether it is John.Neither Ross's nor the Rockies' telescopes reach this distance.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 were no animals anywhere, no sign of vegetation anywhere.There are three worlds that rule the earth, but only one world that rules the moon: the mineral world. oops!Michelle.A Dang said with a dejected expression, isn't there even a single person? No, replied Nicholl, until now.Not a single person, not a single animal, not a single tree.But, then again, it's possible that the moon's atmosphere has escaped into caves, craters, or even the other side of the moon, and we shouldn't jump to conclusions too soon. Besides, Barbicane added, no matter how sharp your eyes are, you can't see even people if you are more than seven kilometers away.So, if there were moonmen, they could see our projectiles, but we couldn'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 the Black Lake or Mount Plato, a deep crater that can be properly studied on Earth when the Moon enters its last quarter and new moon phases and casts its shadow to the west. This black color is very rare on earth satellites.We have only seen this in the depths of Endymion (Note: In Greek mythology, the young shepherd loved by Diana, the moon god) on the east side of the cold sea in the northern hemisphere and at the bottom of the Grimaldi crater on the equator on the eastern edge of the night celestial body. kinds of colors. 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 passed the northern edge of Mare Imbrium.Now on the left is La Condamine (Note: 18th century French mathematician.) Mountain, and on the right is Fontanelle (Note: 1657︱1767, French writer.) Mountain.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 the earth called the diffusion of light, the air can keep the light semi-dark, there is dusk, there is dawn, there is shadow, there is penumbra, there is a series of magical colors of different intensities expressed in black and white painting.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 the sky as absolutely dark so 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 are already 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, less than fifty kilometers from Gioia (Note: Italian navigator in the fourteenth century.) The scenery below is still the same, and now the telescope can shorten this distance to one-eighth of a league.It seems as if you can touch 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.Michelle.Adam 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, 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.