&Quot;Solar System&Quot;

Did U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggest that Elon Musk go to the sun to study climate change? No, that's not true: The audio and the visual backdrop of this video clip have been digitally altered. In the real interview that this footage was taken from, on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Ocasio-Cortez did not speak about sending Musk to…

Did a "confidential source" find more than 250 million "humanoid aliens" living on the moon? No, that's not true: NASA told Lead Stories they have not yet found any sound evidence of extraterrestrial life. The key word "humanoid" implies that these aliens are similar to humans. Since humans can't survive on the moon, "humanoid aliens" would also not be able…

Did the word "horizon" come from the word "horizontal," and is this evidence that the Earth must be flat? No, that's not true: The word "horizon" came first, and the adjective "horizontal" followed. The adjective describes something "relating to or near the horizon." The word "horizon" originated from the ancient Greek term "ὁρίζων κύκλος" (horízōn kýklos), which means "separating (or…

Does a time-lapse video of the midnight sun in Alaska show that the sun appears to get smaller as it approaches the horizon -- thus proving that this is a "local sun" that is very close to Earth in a closed environment, part of the firmament? No, that's not true: The footage of slightly more than one full day has…

Is global warming caused by the solar system having two suns? No, that's not true: An astronomy expert and the National Weather Service told Lead Stories this claim is "completely false." The claim appeared in a video on Instagram on November 28, 2022. The caption for the posted video read: Just hanging out by the Great Spinx's paw dropping 4BIDDENKNOWLEDGE.…

Is the sun smaller than the Earth, and does it rotate around the Earth? No, that's not true: For centuries, scientists have shown that everything in our solar system, including the Earth, revolves around the sun, which is more than 100 times larger than the Earth. The claim that the Earth dominates the sun appeared in an Instagram post on…

Do two images in a social media post show the Hubble Telescope and a satellite? No, that's not true: The Instagram post shows a NASA observatory plane, and a balloon that was used to provide mobile Internet service in Africa. The claim appeared in an Instagram post on October 20, 2021, with a picture of a NASA plane and an…

Did NASA warn that two asteroids could cause atmospheric explosion over Earth this week? No, that's not true: NASA did not issue a warning about these asteroids. The claim originated in an article (archived here) published by The Mind Unleashed on March 18, 2020, under the title "NASA Warns Two Asteroids Could Cause Atmospheric Explosion Over Earth This Week". It…

A website by the name of "Untold Universe" got an unexpected viral hit in January 2018 with an article (archived here) titled "Pluto Has Been Officially Reclassified As A Planet!". It claimed the former ninth planet of the solar system which had been reclassified as a "dwarf planet" in 2006 was restored to its former title by the International Astronomical…