one o'clock in the morning
It looms up , single and isolated , like a gigantic light-house , on the peninsula separating _ Mare Nubium _ from _ Oceanus Procellarum _ on one side and from _ Mare Imbrium _ on the other ; thus illuminating with its splendid radiation three `` Seas '' at a time . The wonderful complexity of its bright streaks diverging on all sides from its centre presented a scene alike splendid and unique . These streaks , the travellers thought , could be traced further north than in any other direction : they fancied they could detect them even in the _ Mare Imbrium _ , but this of course might be owing to the point from which they made their observations . At one o'clock in the morning , the Projectile , flying through space , was exactly over this magnificent mountain . In spite of the brilliant sunlight that was blazing around them , the travellers could easily recognize the peculiar features of _ Copernicus _ . It belongs to those ring mountains of the first class called Circuses . Like _ Kepler _ and _ Aristarchus _ , who rule over _ Oceanus Procellarum _ , _ Copernicus _ , when viewed through our telescopes , sometimes glistens so brightly through the ashy light of the Moon that it has been frequently taken for a volcano in full activity .