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!"

CHAPTER IV

CLOSE TO THE MOON--I GIVE SOME INFORMATION ABOUT IT

We were now moving at a comparatively slow speed, yet the size of the
moon's disc was very rapidly expanding as we approached nearer and
nearer to it. In the course of a little over half-an-hour we were within
ten miles of its surface, which now seemed to fill the whole space below
us; and its rotundity was most impressive. The shadows of the mountains
and other elevated portions near the terminator[4] were jet black, owing
to the absence of an atmosphere; and, seen contrasted with the brilliant
lighting of the parts exposed to the full glare of the sun, appeared
almost like deep holes in the lunar surface.

John now remarked, "Professor, you are aware that I have only a rather
vague general knowledge of astronomy, although I take an interest in the
subject, and that I know still less about the dimensions and physical
character of the moon and planets; so perhaps you will be good enough to
give us a little detailed information respecting this beautiful orb.
Most of it will be news to me, and probably it will all be fresh to
M'Allister."

"Heh mon," the latter replied, "just put me among machinery and I'll
tell you what's what, but I never learned anything about astronomy, so
will not pretend to any knowledge of it, but now I should be very glad
to hear what the Professor has to say about it."

"Well, friends," I replied, "it is not my wish to lecture you upon the
subject, so I will merely just run over a few of the bare facts.

"To begin with--the moon is very much smaller than the earth, its
diameter being only 2160 miles, while the earth's diameter is 7918
miles. Being a smaller globe its mass is much more loosely compacted
than that of the earth, so, although it would take nearly fifty globes
the same as the moon to make one globe as large as the earth, it would
require nearly eighty such globes to make one as heavy as the earth.

"The moon's distance from the earth is generally given as being about
238,000 miles, but this is its mean distance. When farthest away from
our world its distance is about 260,000 miles, but at its nearest it is
less than 220,000 miles distant. This difference of course arises from
the eccentricity of the moon's orbit, and it explains why we sometimes
see the moon