Explore "Off on a Comet" by Jules Verne on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When, three hours after sunset, on the 23d of March, the Gallian moon / rose upon the western horizon, it was observed that she had entered upon / her last quarter. She had taken only four days to pass from syzygy to / quadrature, and it was consequently evident that she would be visible / for little more than a week at a time, and that her lunation would be / accomplished within sixteen days. The lunar months, like the solar / days, had been diminished by one-half. Three days later the moon was in / conjunction with the sun, and was consequently lost to view; Ben Zoof, / as the first observer of the satellite, was extremely interested in its / movements, and wondered whether it would ever reappear.
On the 26th, under an atmosphere perfectly clear and dry, the / thermometer fell to 12 degrees F. below zero. Of the present distance of / Gallia from the sun, and the number of leagues she had traversed since / the receipt of the last mysterious document, there were no means of / judging; the extent of diminution in the apparent disc of the sun did / not afford sufficient basis even for an approximate calculation; and / Captain Servadac was perpetually regretting that they could receive no / further tidings from the anonymous correspondent, whom he persisted in / regarding as a fellow-countryman.