5 P.M.
Mercury shone brightly several degrees outside the halo surrounding the Earth 's black disc ; and Venus was also visible ; but in neither case did my observations allow me to ascertain anything that has not been already noted by astronomers . The dim form of Uranus was better defined than I had previously seen it , but no marking of any kind was perceptible . Rising from my second , or , so to speak , midday rest , and having busied myself for some little time with what I may call my household and garden duties , I observed the discometer at 1h . -LRB- or 5 P.M. -RRB- . It indicated about two hundred terrestrial radii of elevation . I had , of course , from the first been falling slightly behind the Earth in her orbital motion , and was no longer exactly in opposition ; that is to say , a line drawn from the Astronaut to the Earth 's centre was no longer a prolongation of that joining the centres of the Earth and Sun . The effect of this divergence was now perceptible .