Solar Eclipse

Can the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, or EISCAT Scientific Association, use its technologies for mind control, as a video on social media claims? No, that's not true: EISCAT Scientific Association Director Axel Steuwer told Lead Stories that there is "absolutely no mind control possible" with the program's systems, which primarily measure physical elements of the upper atmosphere using the…

Is an image showing a dramatically swirling and sparkling corona over a wooded hillside a real photo of the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse? No, that's not true: The AI detection tool from Hive Moderation rated this image as having a 99.8 percent likelihood of being AI-generated. Practical photography considerations also expose this as an impossible photo. Both a…

Does a viral image on social media show the 2024 solar eclipse? No, that's not true: The photo appeared online almost seven years before the April 9, 2024, solar event. It was taken by an astrophotographer who captured the previous eclipse that was seen in North America. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook where it was…

Does a photo show the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse? No, that's not true: The image is from the 2012 solar eclipse taken near Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, as the original photo, found on the website Flickr, says. It does not show an image of the sun blocked by the moon during the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse. The…

Does an image posted on social media show the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse setting behind a coastal mountain town in Portugal? No, that's not true: This image is fake, and it's old. The April 8, 2024, eclipse did not pass over Portugal. This composite image was circulating in July 2021 and was made with elements merged using a digital…

Does a solar eclipse not involve the moon blocking out the sun? No, that's not true: Experts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) -- an agency that has landed spacecraft on the moon -- describe a solar eclipse as that rare moment when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the face of the sun. The…

Will the sun and moon not be in alignment on April 8, 2024, because the heavenly bodies are "in the wrong place" astrologically? No, that's not true: A video on TikTok making this claim is misleading on three points -- the alignment of the sun and moon during a total eclipse, the function of an app called SkyView and the…

Is NASA launching three rockets during the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, for nefarious or "strange" purposes, as a post on TikTok implied? No, that's not true: While NASA is indeed launching the rockets before, during and after the solar eclipse, the purpose is to study disturbances in the ionosphere -- an electrified region of the atmosphere. The disturbances…

Does a video on social media contain "insider intel" regarding a bioterrorism attack that will be carried out on crowds gathered to watch the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse? No, that's not true: There is no evidence provided in this video of specific insider information about a biological attack or other disaster. The insider information purportedly comes second-hand from an…

Will the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse entirely obscure the sun for eight North American towns named Nineveh, as claimed in a video on TikTok? No, that's not true: Only two of the eight places named Nineveh mentioned in the video -- Nineveh, Indiana, and Nineveh, Ohio -- will experience a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The other…