midnight
They were measuring angles and diameters . The course taken by the projectile , as we have before remarked , was bearing it toward the moon 's northern hemisphere . The travelers were far from the central point which they would have struck , had their course not been subject to an irremediable deviation . It was past midnight ; and Barbicane then estimated the distance at seven hundred and fifty miles , which was a little greater than the length of the lunar radius , and which would diminish as it advanced nearer to the North Pole . The projectile was then not at the altitude of the equator ; but across the tenth parallel , and from that latitude , carefully taken on the map to the pole , Barbicane and his two companions were able to observe the moon under the most favorable conditions . Indeed , by means of glasses , the above-named distance was reduced to little more than fourteen miles . The telescope of the Rocky Mountains brought the moon much nearer ; but the terrestrial atmosphere singularly lessened its power .