The magnetic north pole was found by Captain Ross in 1832. At that time the magnetic north pole was northwest of Hudson’s Bay in about latitude 70 degrees north and longitude 96 degrees and 45 minutes west, that is, west of the zero meridian which runs through Greenwich.
CHAPTER VI
THE MOON, THE EARTH’S DAUGHTER
How the Moon Was Made.—There was a time away back in the beginning of the planets when the Earth did not have a Moon.
Two ideas among others have been worked out to account for the birth of the Moon and these are somewhat alike, for both agree that just as the Earth was once a part of the Sun and was separated from the Sun and became a planet so the Moon was once a part of the Earth and was thrown off and became her daughter.
Fig. 101.—Moon and Earth Joined Together Like a Dumbbell.
The first idea as to how the Moon was made is that a smaller core was formed in the gaseous matter of the Earth and that this core and the core of the Earth, which were at first joined together like a dumbbell, as shown in [Fig. 101], began to spread apart like a pair of balls fastened together with a piece of elastic when they are whirled rapidly round each other, as shown in [Fig. 102].
So, too, the high speed with which the Earth turned on its axis when it was in the making caused the smaller part to slowly move away and it became the Moon.
Fig. 102.—Balls Connected
with an Elastic.