The sun would be moving all through the day in a fashion utterly unlike its behavior in our latitudes. There would, of course, be no such thing as rising and setting. The sun would, indeed, at first seem neither to go any nearer to the horizon nor to rise any higher above it, but would simply go round and round the sky. Then it would gradually get lower and lower, moving round day after day in a sort of spiral, until at last it would get down so low that it would just graze the horizon, right round which it would circulate till half the sun was below, and then until the whole disk had disappeared. Even though the sun had now vanished, a twilight glow would for some time be continuous. It would seem to come from a source moving round and round below the horizon, then gradually the light would become fainter and fainter until at last the winter of utter and continuous blackness had set in. The first indications of the return of spring would be detected by a feeble glow near the horizon, which would seem to move round and round day after day. Then this glow would pass into a continuous dawn, gradually increasing until the sun’s edge crept into visibility, and the great globe would at last begin to climb the heavens by its continual spiral until midsummer was reached, when the change would go on again as before.
Our first excursion to the country of Star-land has now been taken, and we have naturally commenced by studying that sun to which we owe so much. But we shall have to learn that though our sun is of such vital importance to us, yet, in magnificence and size, he has many rivals among the host of stars.
The Phases of our Attendant, the Moon--The Size of the Moon--How Eclipses are produced--Effect of the Moon’s Distance on its Appearance--A Talk about Telescopes--How the Telescope aids us in Viewing the Moon--Telescopic Views of the Lunar Scenery--On the Origin of the Lunar Craters--The Movements of the Moon--On the Possibility of Life in the Moon.
The first day of the week is related to the greatest body in the heavens--the sun--and accordingly we call that day Sun-day. The second day of the week is similarly called after the next most important celestial body--the moon--and though we do not actually say Moon-day, we do say Monday, which is very nearly the same. In French, too, we have _lune_ for moon, and _Lundi_ signifies our Monday. The other days of the week also have names derived from the heavens, but of these we shall speak hereafter. We are now going to talk about the moon.