The projectile had just escaped a terrible danger, and a very unforseen one. Who would have thought of such an encounter with meteors? These erring bodies might create serious perils for the travelers. They were to them so many sandbanks upon that sea of ether which, less fortunate than sailors, they could not escape. But did these adventurers complain of space? No, not since nature had given them the splendid sight of a cosmical meteor bursting from expansion, since this inimitable firework, which no Ruggieri could imitate, had lit up for some seconds the invisible glory of the moon. In that flash, continents, seas, and forests had become visible to them. Did an atmosphere, then, bring to this unknown face its life-giving atoms? Questions still insoluble, and forever closed against human curiousity!

It was then half-past three in the afternoon. The projectile was following its curvilinear direction round the moon. Had its course again been altered by the meteor? It was to be feared so. But the projectile must describe a curve unalterably determined by the laws of mechanical reasoning. Barbicane was inclined to believe that this curve would be rather a parabola than a hyperbola. But admitting the parabola, the projectile must quickly have passed through the cone of shadow projected into space opposite the sun. This cone, indeed, is very narrow, the angular diameter of the moon being so little when compared with the diameter of the orb of day; and up to this time the projectile had been floating in this deep shadow. Whatever had been its speed (and it could not have been insignificant), its period of occultation continued. That was evident, but perhaps that would not have been the case in a supposedly rigidly parabolical trajectory-- a new problem which tormented Barbicane's brain, imprisoned as he was in a circle of unknowns which he could not unravel.

They could not be mistaken. It was no longer a simple meteor. This luminous ridge had neither color nor motion. Nor was it a volcano in eruption. And Barbicane did not hesitate to pronounce upon it. "The sun!" he exclaimed.
"What! the sun?" answered Nicholl and Michel Ardan.
"Yes, my friends, it is the radiant orb itself lighting up the summit of the mountains situated on the southern borders of the moon. We are evidently nearing the south pole."
"After having passed the north pole," replied Michel. "We have made the circuit of our satellite, then?"
"Yes, my good Michel."
"Then, no more hyperbolas, no more parabolas, no more open curves to fear?"
"No, but a closed curve."
"Which is called----"
"An ellipse. Instead of losing itself in interplanetary space, it is probable that the projectile will describe an elliptical orbit around the moon."
"Indeed!"
"And that it will become _her_ satellite."
"Moon of the moon!" cried Michel Ardan.
"Only, I would have you observe, my worthy friend," replied Barbicane, "that we are none the less lost for that."
"Yes, in another manner, and much more pleasantly," answered the careless Frenchman with his most amiable smile.

Projektil je izmakao strasxnoj nepredvidxenoj opasnosti. Ko bi mogao pretpostaviti takav susret sa bolidima. Ta lutajucxa tela pretstavlxala su za putnike veliku opasnost. Bila je to za nxih neka vrsta podvodnih stena u moru etera, koje oni, u gorem polozxaju od mornara, nisu mogli izbecxi. Ali se ti lutajucxi svemirski putnici nisu zxalili na svoju sudbinu. Ne, jer im je priroda dala taj sjajni prizor, strasxnu eksploziju kosmicykog meteora, jer je taj neuporedivi vatromet, koji nikakav {Rudxieli} ne bi mogao izvesti, osvetlio za nekoliko sekundi nevidlxivu polukuglu {Meseca}. U toj su kratkotrajnoj svetlosti ugledali kontinente, mora, sxume. Da li je atmosfera na toj nevidlxivoj polukugli omogucxila razvoj zxivih molekula? To je bilo pitanxe josx uvek neresxeno, koje se vecyito postavlxalo pred lxudsku radoznalost.

Bilo je [tri i po] cyasa po podne. Dxule se kretalo oko {Meseca} po svojoj krivolinijskoj putanxi. Da li je meteor josx jednom izmenio nxegovu putanxu? To je bilo mogucxe. U svakom slucyaju, projektil je morao opisati krivu liniju, odredxenu tacyno prema zakonima racionalne mehanike. {Barbiken} je pretpostavlxao da cxe ta kriva linija biti pre parabola nego hiperbola. Medxutim, ako se pretpostavi da je ona parabola, dxule je moralo uskoro izacxi iz {Mesecyeve} senke. Ustvari, konusna senka {Meseca} je veoma uska, jer je ugaoni precynik {Meseca} mali, ako se uporedi sa precynikom {Sunca}. Medxutim, projektil je i dalxe leteo kroz duboku senku. Ma koliko da je bila nxegova brzina, a ona nije mogla biti neznatna, projektil je josx uvek bio zaklonxen {Mesecom}. To je bila ocyevidna cyinxenica, a mozxda tako nije smelo biti u slucyaju da je nxegova putanxa parabola. Bio je to jedan novi problem, koji je mucyio {Barbikenov} mozak, zatvoren u krugu nepoznatih cyinxenica i iz koga nije mogao da izadxe.

Tu nije moglo biti gresxke. Visxe se nije radilo o meteoru, na koji ta svetlost nije licyila ni po boji ni po kretanxu. To nije bila ni vulkanska erupcija. {Barbiken} je, bez kolebanxa, uzviknuo:
-{Sunce}!
-Kako! {Sunce}!-uzviknusxe za nxim {Nikol} i {Misxel Ardan}.
-Da, prijatelxi moji, to, ustvari, {Sunce} obasjava vrhove planina, koje se nalaze na juzxnoj ivici {Meseca}. Mi se, ocyevidno, priblizxavamo juzxnome polu.
-Posxto smo presxli iznad severnog pola,-primeti {Misxel}.-Mi smo, dakle, leteli oko nasxeg satelita.
-Da, dragi moj {Misxele}.
-Prema tome, visxe nemamo da se plasximo hiperbola, parabola, otvorenih krvih linija.
-A ta je...?
-Elipsa. Umesto da se izgubi u medxuplanetskom prostoru, projektil cxe, verovatno, opisati elipticyku putanxu oko {Meseca}.
-Je li mogucxe!
-I projektil cxe postati {Mesecyev} satelit.
-{Mesecyev} {Mesec}!-povika {Misxel Ardan}.
-Samo, uvazxeni prijatelxu,-dodade {Barbiken},-moram primetiti da cxemo mi jednako biti izgublxeni.
-Da, samo na drugi i veseliji nacyin!-odgovori bezbrizxno {Francuz} sa svojim najlxubaznijim osmehom.