According to a message that is making its way around the Internet via social media, come April 20, we are set for a special celestial treat.
The message claims that, because several planets are going to align on that day, Earth’s moon will appear green for about 90 minutes. Supposedly, this ‘Green Moon’ phenomenon is an event that only occurs once every 420 years. The message asks that you ‘share this event’, and it appears that many people have done just that.
Here’s a transcript of the hoax message:
On April 20th Several Planets are going to align which will cause the earth’s moon to appear green for about 90 minutes. This phenomenon is known as “green moon” and only happens once every 420 years. PLEASE SHARE THIS EVENT
But, not surprisingly, the message is just a hoax. The moon will not be turning green on April 20. Nor will it be turning green on May 29th as claimed in an alternative version of the message.
Science and astronomy website EarthSky has dismissed the green moon claims as an urban legend. And, surprise surprise, IFLScience, Space.com, and other reputable sources also debunk the message.
The hoax first surfaced back in 2016 and another version gained momentum in 2017. So, the hoax looks set to be an annual event.
The EarthSky article points out that the date (4/20) and the ‘420 years’ mention is a sly reference to ‘Weed Day’, which is celebrated by pot smokers on April 20 because a long-running code word for marijuana is ‘420’.
The ‘planetary alignment’ reference has popped up in other hoaxes as well, including ongoing claims that an ‘extraordinary planetary alignment’ will decrease gravity for a time on a specified date.
It hardly needs to be said that the green shade of the moon in the meme is the result of some digital tomfoolery that used a standard moon image as its source. After all, even if the claims were true, cameras were more than a little scarce 420 years back.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
