midnight precisely
46 mins . 40secs . p.m. `` 5th . It will meet the moon four days after its departure on December 4th , at midnight precisely , at the moment she arrives at her zenith . `` The members of the Gun Club ought , therefore , at once to commence the labour necessitated by such an enterprise , and be ready to put them into execution at the moment fixed upon , for they will not find the moon in the same conditions of perigee and zenith till eighteen years and eleven days later . `` The staff of the Observatory of Cambridge puts itself entirely at their disposition for questions of theoretic astronomy , and begs to join its congratulations to those of the whole of America . `` On behalf of the staff , `` J.M. BELFAST , '' _ Director of the Observatory of Cambridge _ . ''