Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 182 Celestial Sphere (Seeking monthly votes!!!!)

At that moment, Jiang Yang thought he had misread it.

He raised his head and carefully looked from one side of the horizon, his gaze sweeping across the entire celestial sphere all the way to the other side of the horizon, searching the entire starry sky.

I still haven't seen that familiar azure blue planet.

Ok?
Jiang Yang knew that the moon was gravitationally locked to Earth, and would always present only one side of itself to Earth. The area he was in was the side of the moon that faced Earth.

Theoretically speaking, you should be able to see the Earth whenever you look up.

But now... has Earth disappeared?

He turned to look at his fellow astronauts and saw that they were also somewhat bewildered.

This is not my imagination.

Jiang Yang's heart began to race.

This situation was completely beyond my expectations.

Prior to this, he had envisioned many possible scenarios for Earth and made full mental preparations.

He wouldn't be so shocked even if he saw the entire Earth turn yellow or dark red, or if the Earth was completely covered by lava.

But then... Earth disappeared?

In an instant, many thoughts flashed through Jiang Yang's mind.

Earthquakes covering the entire globe, electromagnetic environmental disturbances, the simultaneous increase in brightness of the Moon and Earth, moonquakes, high-intensity radiation on the lunar surface, and now the disappearance of Earth...

He tried to connect these threads to uncover the ultimate truth of this apocalypse, but even with his current level of knowledge and depth, Jiang Yang was unable to do so.

He shifted his gaze to the bright star he had never seen before.

It hangs silently in the starry sky, emitting a bright light, revealing no details and offering no clues.

It is very, very small, just a point-like structure, and could not possibly be Earth.

Jiang Yang lowered his head and turned to walk into the canyon.

Behind him, 17 astronauts followed.

This expedition is unlikely to yield any further information. Let's return and report to the experts, hoping they can analyze the situation with our expertise.

Back at the base, he recounted in detail what he had seen during the field observation. In the conference room, the leading figures in the scientific community who had attended the meeting, along with Sun Changhe and others, were all shocked.

"The...the Earth has disappeared? How is this possible? This, this..."

The scientist muttered those words unconsciously, his face ashen.

Even if people saw the Earth suffer a global earthquake, destroying the entire surface ecosystem, or even worse, such as a global volcanic eruption covering the entire planet with lava, they would not be so shocked.

No matter how severe the damage, the Earth will still be there, alright. And as long as the Earth exists, there is always hope.

But now... the entire Earth has simply vanished?

Sun Changhe asked seriously, "What are the possible reasons?"

The expert wiped away a cold sweat and said in a trembling voice, "The Earth cannot disappear for no reason. I think, I think... could this be a misunderstanding?"

Is it possible that the Earth didn't disappear, but we just can't see it? If the Moon's rotation was disturbed during this period, and the side that was originally facing the Earth became the side facing away from the Earth, then we, located on this hemisphere, obviously wouldn't be able to see the Earth.

Yes, yes, that must be it, that's the only explanation, that must be it..."

"How can we confirm this?" At this stage, all external communication methods are destroyed. Satellites are unusable, and it is also impossible to use large-scale advanced equipment for space observation outside the base.

"I have detailed data on the Moon's rotation. We can determine this through simple stargazing, and yes, we also have a simple refracting telescope without any electronic equipment!"

Jiang Yang nodded slowly.

He understood the expert's line of thinking.

Stars are called stars because, from our perspective, their positions on the celestial sphere appear fixed.

Of course, this is not actually constant. Stars move at very high speeds, typically on the order of tens of kilometers per second.

However, they are too far away from the solar system.

Just like an airplane, which travels at a very high speed, but appears slow to people standing on the ground because of the great distance.

Since the positions of stars are fixed, the stars that can be seen from a certain region of the moon at a certain time are also fixed.

By simply observing the stars, one can determine whether the moon's rotation has been disturbed, and thus whether the earth is currently on the far side of the moon.

Once the observation strategy was determined, people immediately got to work.

A 400mm aperture astronomical telescope was taken from the warehouse, and optical experts removed all its electronic equipment, such as automatic star finding, automatic locking, and light focusing devices, to restore it to a purely mechanical refracting telescope.

Astronomers donned mechanical spacesuits and, escorted by astronauts, left the base to conduct observations not far from the base gate.

The telescope was raised and aimed at the stars in the sky.

Telescopes of this caliber certainly cannot truly see distant stars clearly.

However, they allow astronomers to collect more information, see the colors of stars more clearly, determine their brightness, and distinguish whether they have companion stars, thus truly identifying which stars they are.

While it's possible to identify a star by visual observation, such as constellations or the patterns formed by stars, there are simply too many stars visible in the sky. This method is prone to error, so it's best to proceed with caution.

These stars are clearly on humanity's star catalog.

Knowing their identities allows us to determine which direction the moon is facing in the celestial sphere at that moment. By combining this with the current time, we can estimate the moon's rotation rate and then determine whether the moon's rotation has been affected.

After a flurry of observations, the astronomers finally reached a conclusion.

But it's not time to go back yet.

Some scientists, carrying equipment and escorted by astronauts, also climbed the gentle slope to reach the outside of the canyon.

The bright star that suddenly appeared was also revealed to the astronomers.

The telescope was raised again and aimed at it.

After observing for more than ten minutes, the cold source was nearly exhausted, and the team of astronomers returned to the base.

The collected data is input into the computer, simple calculations are performed, and the final result appears.

The astronomer said solemnly, “According to our observations, we can confirm at this moment that the moon’s rotation is unaffected.”

The direction we are facing right now is the direction that the Earth should have originally been in.

Since the moon was unaffected, the only one affected must be Earth.

There are two possibilities: either the Earth has truly disappeared, or... the Earth, rather than the Moon, has been affected by external forces, causing it to move to the side or far side of the Moon, making it invisible to us.

(End of this chapter)