eight o'clock in the evening
The three friends , it need hardly be said , continued to make their observations with redoubled interest , if redoubled interest were possible . But with all their care they could as yet determine nothing regarding the topographical details of our radiant satellite . Her surface still reflected the solar rays too dazzlingly to show the relief necessary for satisfactory observation . Our travellers kept steadily on the watch looking out of the side lights , till eight o'clock in the evening , by which time the Moon had grown so large in their eyes that she covered up fully half the sky . At this time the Projectile itself must have looked like a streak of light , reflecting , as it did , the Sun 's brilliancy on the one side and the Moon 's splendor on the other . Barbican now took a careful observation and calculated that they could not be much more than 2,000 miles from the object of their journey . The velocity of the Projectile he calculated to be about 650 feet per second or 450 miles an hour .