Voyage Dan La Lune

[Riedquat]

Just a thought, but was it widely known that the moon had no atmosphere at the time? I ask because can we deride a piece of fiction for being wrong now, when it was considered plausible in its own time?

For over a century by then I think. Conversely Venus has a thick atmosphere with a permanently hidden surface so there was a lot more room for speculation, it wasn't until radio investigations were made that we discovered how hot it is.

[CrypticMirror]

Just a thought, but was it widely known that the moon had no atmosphere at the time? I ask because can we deride a piece of fiction for being wrong now, when it was considered plausible in its own time?

It was pretty well known amongst the scientific community that the moon had virtually no atmosphere (it does have a very slight one, but it is so negligible that it isn't worth even worth the bother of factoring it into most lunar observations )at that point, the principle work was done in 1753 by Roger Boscovich how well that was known in the general population is less certain. That is what wikipedia says anyway.

More interstingly, also via wikipedia, someone once hoaxed a major newspaper into thinking there all sorts of weird life on the moon: See "The Great Moon Hoax": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Moon_Hoax

There really is nothing new.

[Fianna]

There were some people who theorized that the deeper valleys on the moon might contain a breathable atmosphere (it comes up in Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon), but that was regarded as fringe science even then.

[Eishtmo]

Keep in mind that for a long time people were convinced there were alien made canals on Mars. Lack of close up pictures let imaginations run wild.

[Riedquat]

Keep in mind that for a long time people were convinced there were alien made canals on Mars. Lack of close up pictures let imaginations run wild.

Thanks to a mistranslation. It wasn't a particularly scientific theory - they quickly realised that the channels they thought they saw (eventually demonstrated to be an optical illusion) would have to be ridiculously huge.

[Beastro]

Just a thought, but was it widely known that the moon had no atmosphere at the time? I ask because can we deride a piece of fiction for being wrong now, when it was considered plausible in its own time?

One example was an older series I liked to read. Tom Corbett Space Cadet. They had Venus as a swampy land full of dinosaurs. Which was an idea popularized by science and years later a special mention of Carl Sagan. The Observation: Can't see anything. Conclusion: Dinosaurs, segment.

As others have said, it was known. Women in the Moon is a neat movie that tries to be as accurate as can be: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_in_the_Moon

The lack of atmosphere factored in many early Sci-Fi movies where the moon proved to harboured life. Usually the moon was a dying world that had lost is surface atmosphere and had forced what remained of its lifeforms underground, or was simply always that way (Go in a lunar cave, can find you can breath).

Chuck, please don't review anymore French movies, you're bastardizing the names.

But that's a good thing! It warms the cockles of my British heart.

*hums Hearts of Oak*

Also, because they were so fragile, cylinders tended to get broken

https://youtu.be/pnsizkVjGm8