two in the morning
Now this he found to be generally the case , and he hence concluded that a single eruption of volcanic matter had sufficed to form these ramparts , for successive eruptions would have destroyed the connection . Mount Euler alone was an exception to this general law , and it must have taken several successive eruptions to form it , for the volume of its cavity is double that of its inclosure . All these hypotheses were allowable to terrestrial observers whose instruments were incomplete ; but Barbicane was no longer contented to accept them , and seeing that his projectile drew regularly nearer the lunar disc he did not despair of ultimately reaching it , or at least of finding out the secrets of its formation . At half-past two in the morning the bullet was over the 30th lunar parallel at an effective distance of 1,000 kilometres , reduced by the optical instruments to ten . It still seemed impossible that it could reach any point on the disc . Its movement of translation , relatively slow , was inexplicable to President Barbicane . At that distance from the moon it ought to have been fast in order to maintain it against the power of attraction .