We Approach The Moon-a Magnificent Spectacle

: To Mars Via The Moon

When we had finished our supper John remarked, "Professor, I am a little

mystified in regard to our present position. We have started on a voyage

to Mars, but up to the present I have not seen even a glimpse of the

planet to-night. How is that?"



"Hear, hear," chimed in M'Allister. "Mon, I've been bothering over the

very same thing ever since we started, and wondering where yon little

red star has g
ne to!"



"The question is very soon answered," I replied: "it is a case of 'the

Spanish fleet you cannot see because it's not in sight.' Mars does not

rise above our late horizon until about a quarter-past ten, and was

therefore hidden by the earth whilst we were out on the platform; so we

could not expect to see it then, but if we look out now no doubt we

shall see it."



We went over to a window, and I pointed out the planet, remarking,

"There it is; that little red star is the world which we hope to land

upon in a few weeks' time. You will notice that it does not lie quite in

the direction in which we are moving, for I must tell you that we are

not on our course to Mars at present. I thought we should all be glad to

have a look at the moon from a close point of view now we have the

chance, and M'Allister will remember that I gave him instructions just

before supper to direct our course so as to head off the moon in its

journey."



"Quite right, Professor, so you did," said M'Allister; "but I did not

fully understand the reason of your instructions."



"But," interrupted John, "are we not going rather out of our way?"



"Yes, that is so, John," I replied, "but a few thousand miles more or

less will make very little difference to us at the rate we shall travel,

especially if you allow for the fact that the earth and moon are both

moving nearly in the direction we wish to go. Besides, I hope to

approach sufficiently near the moon to enable us to add a little more

power to our store, so it will not all be lost time; and we can also use

the moon to give us a fresh start. But for the fact that it would be

best for us to reach the moon before it has waned to any large extent we

might have delayed our start for many days, and, whilst considerably

shortening our journey, still arrived at Mars on the date we have

fixed."



Our chronometer was housed in a substantial non-magnetic cubicle, with a

very thick glass window, in order to protect it from the magnetism and

electricity which pervaded our vessel. On looking at the chronometer I

found the time was nearly eleven o'clock. We had, therefore, been nearly

two hours on our journey and had travelled some three hundred miles,

mostly in an upward direction from the earth; so if there were any of

the earth's atmosphere around our vessel it must be of the most extreme

tenuity, and we might safely increase our speed.



I accordingly gave M'Allister the order to switch on the power

gradually, up to our full speed, and it was not long before we were

rushing through space at the rate of over eighty-three thousand miles an

hour. At this rate, as I told them, we might expect to reach the moon in

a little over sixteen hours, allowing for loss in slackening down at the

latter part of the journey.



"It so happens," I said, "that the moon's present distance from the

earth is rather less than 226,000 miles, being its nearest approach to

the earth during this month."



John at once asked, "How it happened that, if the moon were only this

comparatively short distance away from us, I reckoned it would require

over sixteen hours to reach it at the tremendous speed we were now

moving"; and added, "I thought we should be there in about three hours."



"Ah, John," I replied, "you have forgotten that the earth is rushing

along and carrying the moon with it nearly as fast as we are travelling,

and you are reckoning as though they were standing still all the time.

As a matter of fact we are only gaining on the moon by a little over

fifteen thousand miles an hour, and we must allow for slackening speed

long before we reach the moon, so we cannot expect to cover the distance

in less than sixteen hours. You will see that if we did not travel

faster than the moon is moving away from us we should never catch it up

at all!"



"That explains it all, Professor," said John, "and I must confess I felt

rather puzzled at the length of time required to reach the moon, so was

altogether out in my calculations."



After we had been proceeding at this rate for nearly two hours,

M'Allister came hurrying into our compartment in a state of great

excitement.



"Professor," he exclaimed with a gasp, "something's gone wrong

altogether, and I don't know what to do!"



"Gone wrong!" I repeated. "Why, what is the matter?"



"Mon," he answered, "everything is the matter! A while back we were

rushing towards the moon, but just now when I looked ahead there wasn't

any moon to be seen. I happened to go round to the other window and look

back and, my word! if there wasn't the moon right behind us! We have

been travelling so very fast that we must have run past it without

knowing we had done so."



"Oh, we could not possibly have done that!" I exclaimed.



"But there's more to come, Professor," continued M'Allister. "When I

last saw the moon it was nearly full and not so very much bigger than

when we saw it at starting, but now this moon behind us is an enormous

thing; yet it is only a new moon, or rather what folks call a new moon

with the old moon in its arms!"



"Oh, now I understand," I replied. "It's all right, M'Allister, and you

can make your mind quite easy. You were not able to see the moon when

you first looked through the window because it was nearly in a direct

line with your course, and therefore just hidden by the prow of the

vessel. It's still ahead of us and still nearly full: if you had looked

out of the conning tower or used the periscope you would have seen it."



"Heh, Professor," he interjected, "I know I couldn't see the moon if it

was straight ahead of our course, but then what about that enormous new

moon that's behind us? I saw that right enough."



"That enormous new moon, M'Allister, is only our own little world which

we left a few hours ago," I replied.



He stared at me as though bewildered, and after pondering a while,

exclaimed, "Losh, mon, you surely don't mean to say that our own little

world changes about in the same way as the moon does-sometimes new and

sometimes full?"



Here John interposed. "Yes, M'Allister, you can take it from me that it

is just what our world does do. I think you are aware that, like the

moon, our world simply reflects the light it receives from the sun, and

does not shine by its own light. So one side is light and the other side

is dark, according to its position in regard to the sun. From our

present position we are only able to see a small portion of the lighted

side, the remainder being dark except for the moonlight shining upon it,

so it looks just like a large new moon. It really serves as a moon to

our moon, but its phases follow each other in reverse order. Thus, when

the moon is full, the earth's disc is all dark, and when the moon is in

its first quarter the earth, as seen from there, would be in its third

quarter, and so on through all its phases. Do you follow all that,

M'Allister?"



"Well, mon," replied M'Allister, with a sly grin, "I've just heard you

say it; but"-and here he turned to me-"is it all correct, Professor?"



"Yes, quite correct," I answered, greatly amused at his distrust of

John's statements.



"M'Allister, you're like the Apostle Thomas," commented John, evidently

a little nettled; "so you really doubted my word after all!"



"Heh, mon," he answered, "you're not the Professor, you know; and I

thought maybe you were pulling my leg!"



"Well," laughed John, "perhaps you will get your leg pulled the next

time I condescend to give you a lesson in astronomy!"



After this little spar between my two colleagues we proceeded to the

machine-room, which John and I carefully inspected, to make sure that

all was working properly; and having satisfied ourselves on this point,

we gave M'Allister his instructions for the 'night'; though of course

there was no night now.



Mounting the steps of the conning turret, we then had a look at the

earth, from which we were so rapidly moving away. It appeared about

fifteen degrees in angular diameter, showing that we had travelled some

thirty thousand miles from it.



The full moon, as seen from the earth, appears just about half a degree

in diameter-sometimes a little more, sometimes rather less; so the

earth was apparently about thirty times the diameter the moon usually

appears to us. It was only a thin crescent where lighted by the sun, but

well might M'Allister describe it as "enormous," for it appeared still

larger to him when he saw it some thirty minutes earlier and mistook it

for the new moon.



When we came down again John, very thoughtfully, said to me, "Professor,

you have had a very long, tiring day; and when we reach the moon, we

shall probably stay up several hours to look at it, so you had better

take as long a sleep as possible. There will be no need to break your

rest, for I'm the younger, and will get about by six o'clock, and

relieve M'Allister, who can go on all right up to then, as he has three

hours less work to his credit than we have to-day. If your advice is

needed, I will call you at once; but, no doubt, we shall do very well

till we arrive within a few thousand miles of the moon. We will slacken

speed very gradually from about two o'clock in the afternoon, so as not

to approach the orb too rapidly."



I had, indeed, as he said, had a long, tiring day, having risen soon

after four o'clock yesterday morning, and it was now nearly 2 "A.M." by

terrestrial time; so, thanking him for his kind consideration, I bade

them both "good night," and gladly proceeded to bed, John following soon

after.



He was as good as his word, and actually allowed me to sleep on until

nearly half-past three in the "afternoon," when he roused me, and,

having dressed, I snatched a hasty meal and then at once proceeded to

the machine-room, where my first act was to look at the moon. There it

was below us, but still slightly ahead of the Areonal; and its

magnificence was so overpowering, that it almost seemed to take my

breath away, although I was fairly well prepared for the sight. Many

times when viewing it through the telescope I have almost lost myself in

admiration of the sublime spectacle it presents; but what I had seen on

those occasions could not be compared with the splendour of the view now

before us.



Here, without any atmosphere to dim or otherwise mar the view, the

brilliancy of the lighted portion of the disc was absolutely dazzling,

whilst the extreme delicacy of its varied tints and the subtle nuances

of colour, which we now saw to perfection, were most charming and

delightful to any one endowed with artistic perceptions. We were only

about four thousand miles from this beautiful orb, its angular diameter

measuring about thirty degrees, or nearly sixty times its apparent

diameter, as seen from the earth; thus it appeared to cover a very large

circle on the sky.



John and M'Allister told me they had both been gazing upon the splendid

scene for a very long time with astonishment and delight equal to my

own; and the latter went on to say, "Professor, did you ever see such a

sight in your life? I never did, and could never have imagined that

anything could be so beautiful! Mon, it's worth many a journey like this

to see such a bonnie thing!"



"You are quite right in saying that, M'Allister," I answered; "it is,

indeed, a grand and marvellous sight! I can assure you that when I have

been observing the moon in its full and glowing splendour, it has often

seemed to me the most exquisitely beautiful object I have ever looked

upon; yet now it appears far more beautiful than when seen through the

telescope!"



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