FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.

Evening Star, Issue 9833, 23 October 1895, Page 3

FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON.

A voyage to the moon is the latest project which is seriously put forward as the crowning point or “ clou ” to the Paris Exhibition of 1900. M. Mauiois, the author, does not, however, propose to carry his passengers to the lunar regions in an aerial projectile car in the style of Jules Verne, but he proposes to bring down the moon to the reach of people whose vision extends, say, six miles from the earth. The plan (says the ‘London Daily Telegraph ’ correspondent) is to construct a telescope nearly 200 ft in length, and its objective glass will have a diameter of something over 4ft Sin, the largest in the world. This colossal tube would be placed horizontally, and the image of the moon would be reflected by what is termed a mirror plane, 6ft 6in in diameter and 15in in thickness. Its weight would be about B,ooolb. A special feature of the idea is that the image of the moon should be thrown upon a screen placed in a hall large enough to hold 600 spectators. Astronomers calculate that, with an apparatus of these dimensions, it would be possible to discern very easily objects of the size of Notre Dame Cathedral towers, and to distinguish the evolutions of a lunar regiment. At all events, should the opening of the twentieth century be signalised by volcanic eruptions in the mountains of the moon, the visitors to the Exhibition would have a grand spectacle. There is but one drawback—tbe weather cannot be depended on.