The actual illumination of the lunar surface is not much superior to
that of weathered sandstone-rock in full sunshine. Sir John Herschel
has frequently compared the moon setting behind the gray perpendicular
façade of the Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope, illuminated
by the sun just risen from the opposite quarter of the horizon, when
it has been scarcely distinguishable in brightness from the rock in
contact with it. The sun and moon being nearly at equal altitudes, and
the atmosphere perfectly free from cloud or vapour, its effect is alike
on both luminaries.