As to what was to be their
own fate, to what doom were themselves to be reserved--they never
appeared to think of such a thing. They knew very well that in the midst
of those infinite solitudes they should soon find themselves without
air. The slight supply that kept them from smothering could not
possibly last more than five or six days longer. Five or six days! What
of that? _Quand meme_! as Ardan often exclaimed. Five or six days were
centuries to our bold adventurers! At present every second was a year in
events, and infinitely too precious to be squandered away in mere
preparations for possible contingencies. The Moon could never be
reached, but was it not possible that her surface could be carefully
observed? This they set themselves at once to find out.
The distance now separating them from our Satellite they estimated at
about 400 miles. Therefore relatively to their power of discovering the
details of her disc, they were still farther off from the Moon than some
of our modern astronomers are to-day, when provided with their powerful
telescopes.
We know, for example, that Lord Rosse's great telescope at Parsonstown,
possessing a power of magnifying 6000 times, brings the Moon to within
40 miles of us; not to speak of Barbican's great telescope on the summit
of Long's Peak, by which the Moon, magnified 48,000 times, was brought
within 5 miles of the Earth, where it therefore could reveal with
sufficient distinctness every object above 40 feet in diameter.
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