midnight
Night follows day , and day night , with the startling suddenness of a match struck or a lamp extinguished in a cavern . Nor can it present any gradual transition from either extreme of temperature . Hot jumps to cold , and cold jumps to hot . A moment after a glacial midnight , it is a roasting noon . Without an instant 's warning the temperature falls from 212 ° Fahrenheit to the icy winter of interstellar space . The surface is all dazzling glare , or pitchy gloom . Wherever the direct rays of the sun do not fall , darkness reigns supreme .