midnight
Barbican undertook to give his friends some explanation regarding the cause of the startling phenomenon , and the consequences resulting from it . `` Yes , startling is the word for it , '' observed Barbican , replying to a remark of Ardan 's ; `` and still more so when we reflect that not only are both lunar hemispheres deprived , by turns , of sun light for nearly 15 days , but that also the particular hemisphere over which we are at this moment floating is all that long night completely deprived of earth-light . In other words , it is only one side of the Moon 's disc that ever receives any light from the Earth . From nearly every portion of one side of the Moon , the Earth is always as completely absent as the Sun is from us at midnight . Suppose an analogous case existed on the Earth ; suppose , for instance , that neither in Europe , Asia or North America was the Moon ever visible -- that , in fact , it was to be seen only at our antipodes . With what astonishment should we contemplate her for the first time on our arrival in Australia or New Zealand ! '' `` Every man of us would pack off to Australia to see her ! ''