midnight
While Marston was prosecuting his long journey with all possible speed , Professor Belfast , who had charge of the telescope , was endeavoring to catch a glimpse of the Projectile , but for a long time with no success . The hazy , cloudy weather lasted for more than a week , to the great disgust of the public at large . People even began to fear that further observation would have to be deferred to the 3d of the following month , January , as during the latter half of December the waning Moon could not possibly give light enough to render the Projectile visible . At last , however , to the unbounded satisfaction of all , a violent tempest suddenly cleared the sky , and on the 13th of December , shortly after midnight , the Moon , verging towards her last quarter , revealed herself sharp and bright on the dark background of the starry firmament . That same morning , a few hours before Marston 's arrival at the summit of Long 's Peak , a very remarkable telegram had been dispatched by Professor Belfast to the Smithsonian Institute , Washington . It announced : That on December 13th , at 2 o'clock in the morning , the Projectile shot from Stony Hill had been perceived by Professor Belfast and his assistants ; that , deflected a little from its course by some unknown cause , it had not reached its mark , though it had approached near enough to be affected by the Lunar attraction ; and that , its rectilineal motion having become circular , it should henceforth continue to describe a regular orbit around the Moon , of which in fact it had become the Satellite . The dispatch went on further to state : That the _ elements _ of the new heavenly body had not yet been calculated , as at least three different observations , taken at different times , were necessary to determine them .