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 came so suddenly, there was no change in color, no gradual decrease in luminosity, no gradual weakening of light waves, as if the celestial body in the night was blown out by someone. The moon was melted and lost!Michelle.Adam exclaimed in surprise. 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 for three hundred and fifty-four 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 has entered the cone-shaped 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 glorious orb!Michelle.Adam shouted that it no longer supplies us with free sunlight, so that we have to waste gas! We are not to blame the sun, Nicholl went on, it is not its fault; we are to blame the moon, because it lies between us and the sun and hides us.

The sun should be blamed!Michelle said again. The moon should be to blame!Nicholl is not to be outdone. A word from Barbicane put an end to this idle quarrel: Friends, it is neither the sun nor the moon's fault.This is the fault of the projectile, for instead of following its course exactly, it clumsily departs from it.But, to put it more justly, it was the fault of that odious bolide, which should not have so shamefully diverted us from our course. All right!Michelle.Adam replied that since the problem has been solved, let's have breakfast.After a whole night of observing, we should also recover our strength.

No one objected to the proposal.In just a few minutes Michelle had breakfast ready.However, this was just eating for the sake of eating, no one raised a glass to toast, and no one shouted Ulla! .As the three intrepid travelers were taken into a dark space, without the company of the sunlight to which they had long been accustomed, a vague sense of uneasiness seemed to creep slowly over them.Victor.The rebellious darkness, so favored by Hugo, 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.

A curious phenomenon, of course, he said, because if each hemisphere of the moon has fifteen days without sunlight, the hemisphere over which we are now drifting, even during its long night Here, no blessing to see the glorious earth.In a word, the moon has only one side with the moon.Our Earth is the Moonman's Moon.Then, if the same is true of the earth, for example, if Europe never sees the moon, only at its antipodes , these two points are called antipodal points.) If you can see the moon, you can imagine how surprised a European would be if he arrived in Australia. We would travel long distances just to see the moon!Michelle replied.

Then, Barbicane went on, the Lunarians who lived on the side opposite to the Earth, that is, on the side never seen by our terrestrial fellow-creatures, would be so amazed. If we are in the new moon period, that is, if we come here after half a month, we will be able to see it clearly. I would add, on the contrary, continued Barbicane, that the Lunarians on the visible side were more fortunate than their brethren in the bounties bestowed upon them by nature.For, those brothers, during the three hundred and fifty-four hours of the night, no light penetrated their darkness.For them, on the contrary, after the sun had shone for them for fourteen days, no sooner had the sun sunk below the horizon than they saw rising from the other side a radiant orb.This celestial body is the earth.The earth is twelve times larger than the moon we are familiar with so its light is twelve times stronger, and it is not affected by any atmosphere. In addition, the earth only disappears when the sun reappears.

Good point, Michelle.Adam said, it's really a little academic. It may therefore be said, Barbicane went on, without even frowning, that it must be very comfortable to live on the visible side of the moon, for here the sun is visible when the moon is full and the sun is visible when it is new. time to see the Earth. But, says Nicholl, that benefit is likely to be outweighed by the unbearable heat the light brings. From this point of view, the disadvantages of both sides of the moon are the same, because the reflection of the earth is obviously not hot.However, the invisible side is always tested by more heat than the visible side.I say this to you, Nicholl, because Michel may not understand.

Thanks, Michelle said. In fact, Barbicane goes on to say, it is precisely the period of the lunar crescent when the invisible side receives both light and heat, that is to say, when the three celestial bodies are exactly in line, and the moon is between the sun and the earth .As a result, it is much closer to the Sun than it is during a full moon, which happens to be twice the distance between the Moon and Earth.This distance may be estimated at one two-hundredth of the distance between the sun and the earth, rounded up, or two hundred thousand leagues.That is to say, when the invisible side receives the sunlight, it is nearly two hundred thousand leagues from the sun.

Exactly, Nicholl replied. Barbicane, on the contrary, went on. Just a moment, Michel interrupted his stately companion. what do you want to say? I ask to explain it to you. Why? To demonstrate that I have understood. Please, said Barbicane, smiling. On the contrary, Michel imitated the tone and gestures of Chairman Barbicane and said that on the contrary, when the visible side of the moon receives sunlight, it is exactly the period of the full moon, that is to say, the earth is between the sun and the moon .It is, therefore, much farther away from the radiant celestial body, rounded up to two hundred thousand leagues, than it was at the time of the new moon, and it is naturally less heated.

well said!cried Barbicane.You know what, Michelle?For an artist, you are very clever. Yes, replied Michele nonchalantly, we of the Boulevard d'Italia are all like that! 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 extend up to two hours, and, due to the refraction of the Earth's atmosphere, the Earth appears as a dark spot on the Sun.

Put it this way.Nicholl said that this invisible hemisphere is not favored by nature, and it always suffers everywhere. Yes, answered Barbicane, but not entirely at a loss.Because of a libration of the moon, that is, a wobble about its center, the moon can reveal a little more than half of the earth.It is like a pendulum, the center of gravity tends to be biased toward the earth, and it swings regularly.Why does this swing happen?This is because its rotation speed is equal, but its speed of revolution along the elliptical orbit around the earth is sometimes fast and sometimes slow.At perigee, the speed of revolution 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.It is sometimes exposed to the west and sometimes to the east, and this spindle-shaped area is about eight degrees wide.Therefore, the area of ​​the moon that we can see is 569/1000 of the total area. It doesn't matter, Michelle replied, if we also become moon people, we will live on the side where we can see.Me, I love sunshine! However, Nicholl refuted him. According to some astronomers, the atmosphere of the moon is condensed on the other side. Worth reference, 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 of 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?Does it get 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 air medium to carry sound, they cannot hear the groans of the man whose body has been turned into granite but whose heart is still beating in the 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 surface geography, everyone admits that the composition of the invisible side of the moon is absolutely the same as that of the visible side.In fact, we have seen about one-seventh of it already, owing to the libration of the Moon which Barbicane just spoke of.However, on the two spindle-shaped lunar surfaces we see, there are plains and mountains everywhere, craters and craters, which are almost exactly the same as those drawn on the lunar surface map.Therefore, we can assert that the two sides are of the same nature, and belong to the same dull and dull world.But if the atmosphere escaped to that side, with air and water, would there be life on these regenerated continents?Will there be plants?In these continents and seas, will not all kinds of animals breed?Under such habitable conditions, will there be people?How many interesting questions to answer!How many problems can be solved by simply observing this hemisphere!It is a supreme pleasure to be able to glimpse a world that the human eye has never glimpsed. Therefore, it is natural to imagine how frustrated the three travelers felt in this dark night.Unable to make any observations.Only the celestial constellations attracted their attention, and we must admit that neither the Fayets, the Chaconacs, or the Sekis were in such a favorable position. These constellations have been observed under conditions. In fact, the beauty of this world of stars immersed in the clear and transparent ether is unmatched.It seems that diamonds inlaid in the sky are shining brightly.From the cross constellation of the South Pole to the North Star, the two constellations indicating the North and South Poles will gradually decline due to the vernal and autumnal equinoxes in another 12,000 years. Give way to the star Vega on the northern celestial sphere.In this incomparably wonderful infinity in which the imaginations of the three travelers float, the projectile also travels in this infinity as a new celestial body created by human hands.All these stars emit a soft light by nature, unlike the stars seen on the earth, because the atmosphere between them is variable in density and humidity, and is always twinkling and twinkling.In this dark night sky and absolute silence, the stars are like gentle eyes watching you. The three passengers just stared at the starry sky without saying a word for a long time, only the round shadow of the moon covered half of the sky.But at last an unbearable feeling of pain interrupted their meditations.The severe cold suddenly formed a thick layer of frost on the glass inside the porthole.In fact, as the sun's rays do not reach the projectile, the little heat accumulated in the middle of the walls is slowly dissipated.This bit of heat is quickly lost in the space, and the temperature inside suddenly drops.The moisture inside met the glass of the porthole and turned to ice, so observations were no longer possible. Nicholl looked at the thermometer and found that the temperature had dropped to seventeen degrees Celsius.Whatever the reasons for economy, Barbicane, having borrowed light from gas, must now borrow heat from it.The temperature inside the shells was unbearable.If this continues, the three passengers in the carriage will inevitably freeze to death. We can't complain that our journey is monotonous and boring!Michelle.Adam said.There are so many changes!At least in terms of temperature, we are blinded by the sun, scorching like the Indians on the prairies, and plunged into infinite darkness, and the cold of the north like the Eskimos of the Arctic!Yeah, to be honest, we really have no reason to complain, we are truly blessed that nature has done a lot for us. But, asks Nicholl, what's the temperature outside? Exactly the temperature of interstellar space, answered Barbicane. We used to bask in the sun, Michelle.Ah Dang went on to say that the temperature cannot be measured. Isn't it time for such a measurement? Yes, now is the time.Otherwise, Barbicane replied, there would never have been a chance, since our present position enabled us to identify the temperature of space and see whether Fourier's or Pouille's calculations were correct. Anyway, it's always cold!Michelle replied.You see, the moisture inside is frozen on the glass of the porthole.If the temperature continues to drop, it won't be long before the water vapor we exhale will drop like snowflakes. Let us have a thermometer, said Barbicane. It is conceivable that an ordinary thermometer cannot stand the test of this environment.Because the mercury in the glass ball cannot flow when it reaches minus 42 degrees Celsius.However, Barbicane also has a liquid flow thermometer of the Valferdan type, which has a particularly low minimum temperature. Before starting to make measurements, they compared this instrument with an ordinary thermometer, and the Barbican was now at work. How do we measure it?Nicholl asked. It doesn't get any easier, Michelle.Adam replied that he was never helpless.We have only to open the porthole very quickly, throw the thermometer out, and it will follow the projectile tamely, and we will bring it in again in a quarter of an hour. Take it by hand?asked Barbicane. Take it by hand, Michelle replied. Well, my friend, you must not risk it, said Barbicane.Because, when your hand retracted, it was frozen like a piece of wood by the terrible cold outside, changing its original shape. real! You will experience a dreadful aching sensation, as of being scalded by a white-hot iron, for the sudden flow of heat out of our muscles, or in, produces the same sensation.Besides, I am not sure that what we throw outside the projectile will follow us. Why?Nicholl said. Because, if we go through the atmosphere, no matter how low its density, these objects will be left behind.Also, the darkness outside made it impossible for us to verify that they were still floating around us.We shall, therefore, attach a string so as not to lose our thermometer, and at the same time it will be easy to retrieve it. Barbicane's idea was adopted.Nicholl threw the thermometer attached to a short cord through the porthole which opened quickly, so that it could easily be drawn back.Although the porthole was only opened a crack, and only for a second, the biting cold had already poured into the interior of the projectile. hell!Michelle.Ah Dang exclaimed, it's so cold, it can freeze the white bear to death! Barbicane waited for half an hour, far exceeding the time required for the thermometer to drop to the space temperature.Then he quickly put the thermometer back. Barbicane counted the amount of alcohol that had flowed into the glass ball, and said: One hundred and forty degrees Celsius below zero! Mr. Pouille's objection to Fourier is indeed justified.This is the terrible temperature of interstellar space!After the celestial body in the dark night lost the heat accumulated by the sun for fourteen consecutive days, the temperature on the lunar continent may be the same!