Sky and Telescope - June 2015 - 35

water. In truth, this would not have protected the astronauts. However, in the novel, the abrupt liftoﬀ merely
knocks the trio unconscious - though it kills one of the
two dogs aboard (yes, they brought dogs).
When the crew regains consciousness, they reorganize their vessel and risk opening a porthole to dispose
of the unlucky canine - which then tragically drifts
next to them throughout the journey. In the novel, this
open-door gamble works tremendously well, but in reality the extremely low pressure of space would vacuum
the crew from the projectile.

Earth's Second Moon
Once above Earth's atmosphere, the crew faces a new
crisis: a giant boulder hurtles into view. It narrowly
misses their tiny craft but leaves the crew shaken. What
was that thing? Barbicane concludes that it was Earth's
second Moon.
In the mid-19th century, planet hunting had become
all the rage. Neptune's discovery in 1846 let loose a mob
of astronomers claiming the existence of new, unseen
celestial bodies. Also in 1846, French astronomer
Frédéric Petit claimed that two of his countrymen had
observed Earth's second moon. Based on their accounts,
Petit calculated its orbit and published his ﬁndings in
1861. Verne read this theory and seized upon it as a plot
device in this novel. Barbicane even cites Petit as his
source! (With 150 years of hindsight, however, Earth's
second moon remains pure ﬁction.)
As Barbicane, Nicholl, and Ardan approach "the"
Moon, they describe their observations of the lunar landscape in great detail. They spy deep craters and towering
mountain peaks, radiating rays of debris, dark seas of
rock, and deep rifts. The travelers then notice something
is amiss: the projectile will not land on the lunar surface
as planned but instead carry them to within a few miles
of the Moon's north pole.
What had gone wrong - their math, aim, or velocity?
It was that wayward rock, that "second moon," whose
proximity and gravitational pull perturbed the course of
the projectile. As the explorers realize this failure, they
pass over the pole and are plunged into utter darkness.

The force of the launch kills Satellite, one of two dogs aboard.
So the passengers open a hatch
to dispose of it. But the carcass
ﬂoats alongside the craft en
route to the Moon.

from Earth, so the farside is almost pitch black. Ardan
expresses his disappointment: "Here is, however, a good
opportunity lost of observing the other side of the moon."
Yet it is not a complete loss. The warm glow from an
erupting volcano illuminates its surroundings and gives
the travelers tantalizing views of this terra incognita.
In the 19th century, scientists believed that volcanoes
had formed the craters on the Moon. Earth's volcanoes

The Farside (and Dark Side) of the Moon
The Moon is tidally locked to Earth. Therefore, from
here we can only ever view one hemisphere of its surface. Not until 1959 did a robotic Soviet spacecraft, Luna
3, provide the ﬁrst crude images of the unseen farside.
So what spectacular images would Verne dream up
about the farside of the Moon - visions that would not
be challenged for almost 100 years? Until this point of
the story, Verne's descriptions were based on known science; however, the lunar farside was a great unknown in
the 19th century.
The projectile reaches the Moon when it appears full

Freed of Earth's gravity, the three passengers and assorted
animals ﬂoat freely as the spacecraft coasts toward the Moon.

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Sky and Telescope - June 2015

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