Internet Eclipse Photos: Fakes, Unrealistic Enhancements, and Hijacked Images

NOT a fake image. Photo by the author. ©2017 Mark Alsip.

After the “Great American Eclipse” of April 8, 2024, social media and the Internet have become swamped with highly-manipulated and/or completely fake images of totality. As an eclipse chaser with 26 years experience under my belt, I’m greatly disturbed by this. Total eclipses of the sun are the most beautiful events in nature. There’s absolutely no need to falsify how they look.

In this edition of Bad Science Debunked, I’d like to take in-depth looks at a couple of the most popular fake or manipulated images. I’ll explain how we know they aren’t real (or are manipulated). I’ll talk about why some photographers manipulate their images, how such images are sometimes hijacked without the photographer’s permission, and look at both the good and bad that can come from such manipulation.

Artificial Intelligence Rears It’s Head

Let’s start with the photo below.⁶ In a moment I’ll talk about the impossibility of capturing the wide dynamic range of light in the various parts of the the sun’s corona (atmosphere) seen in this image, but alarm bells were already going off in my head just based on knowing something about the April 8, 2024 eclipse.

Image Credit: author unknown, please see photo credits at end of article for attribution and declaration of usage rights.

First, notice the sunset/sunrise colors in the photo. Notice how close to the horizon the moon and sun are. This simply wasn’t possible on April 8. The eclipse began at sea southwest of Mexico, so there would’ve been no land from which to shoot a sunrise shot. Likewise, the eclipse ended over land in the North Atlantic. Again, there would be no land-based position from which to shoot a sunrise or sunset photo.

Second, look at all the little golden beads and “swirls” around the edge of the sun. The beads are known as Bailey’s Beads. These “beads” are small glints of sunlight shining through mountain passes on the limb of the moon. The swirls that seem to leap off the sun are called “prominences.” Prominences are large masses of gas leaping off the surface of the sun.

To see so much of this phenomena literally 360 degrees around the sun would have required what’s known as a “shallow eclipse.” The moon would have needed to be far enough from Earth to just-ever-so-slightly cover the face of the sun, allowing so many beads and prominences to be visible. I was clouded out on April 8, but I’ve looked at a great deal of photographs from those who weren’t, and the eclipse just wasn’t this shallow. Nor was it expected to be. Look at some legitimate images of this eclipse from NASA and you’ll see the difference.¹

Third, notice what appears to be full foliage on deciduous trees. For this to have been a sunset image, it would have had to been taken at a high latitude. The eclipse left land for good near tiny Bonavista, Newfoundland & Labrador, just north of St. John’s, Newfoundland², at a latitude of 48 degrees north. With the foliage just now thickening near my home of Lexington, KY, a full 10 degrees farther south, I find it incredible to believe the trees are this far advanced 10 degrees to the north.

Worse yet, the eclipse ended in BonaVista at 4:30pm local time on April 8. The sun would not set there until over three hours later (7:44pm local time).

The eclipse leaves land for good in Newfoundland, with totality ending at 4:30pm, three hours before sunset.² Map courtesy Javier M. Xubier/Google Maps.

Things don’t get any better for the possibility of a sunrise photo. Aside from a minor island, the eclipse first touched land near Mazatlan, Mexico.³ The sun rose at 5:51am in Mazatlan on eclipse day, but totality didn’t end until 11:11am local time. That’s about five hours after the sun first touched Mazatlan’s beaches. There was no possibility of taking a sunrise picture of the eclipse in Mexico on April 8, even though the country would have the foliage.

So, this image was not taken at sunrise or sunset, anywhere in the path of the eclipse, despite the very clear colors indicating this would be the case.

The eclipse comes ashore near the resort city of Mazatlan, Mexico, where totality ended at 11:11am local time.³ The sun rose a full 5 hours earlier, at 5:51am local time. Map courtesy Javier M. Xubier/Google Maps.

AI Generated? Yes, Most Likely
Being unable to track down any source for this photo to learn how it was produced, I followed the suggestion of the Facebook page Exploiting the Niche,¹⁰ which has a thread dedicated to solar eclipse photo fakes. The suggestion? Run the image through an analysis tool designed to look for AI-generated fakes. I used the free Hive⁹ plugin for Chrome. This is what I found:

In contrast, let’s run the Hive⁹ detector on my own image, the un-retouched feature image for this story:

 

Case #2: Clear and Obvious Image Manipulation
Let’s turn our attention now to another highly modified image which, again, in no way represents what totality actually looks like. This hijacked image was shared very widely, including the Facebook sites “Science Updates” and the fake “James Webb Space Telescope”⁵ (has nothing to do with the real JWST) page:

The fake JWST page blocked me when I pointed out they were sharing a misleading image:

The fake JWST Facebook page won’t allow dissenting comments, pointing out the problems with the image they hijacked.

There’s a little more information on this image than was available for the previous one. A reverse image search on Google first led me to the Twitter/X page of Dr. Sebastian Voltmer, from who, it turns out, the image was hijacked.

Dr. Sebastian Voltmer’s Twitter/X page⁷ says he does High Dynamic Range (HDR) solar eclipse photography:

The comment above refers to a photo he took in 2017. Before I dive into his 2024 photo, the one that’s causing all the controversy right now, let me explain what HDR photography is, and what it is not.

HDR photos are not “high resolution” photos, as they’re so often mislabeled. Instead, they are digitally enhanced pictures that use software to make up for the fact that even modern cameras cannot possibly capture the wide range (the “R” in “HDR”) of brightness found in various features of the eclipse.

For example, look closely at the surface of the moon in the previous Photoshopped eclipse photo. See all that detail? It’s visible–but only just so–because of light reflected back from Earth onto the face of the moon. To capture any type of detail from the very dim light of “earthshine” takes very long exposures… in my experience one second or longer.

Contrast this vastly greater brightness of features such as the “diamond ring,” Bailey’s Beads, or the inner corona (the milky-white atmosphere of the sun, “inner” referring to the part of the sun’s atmosphere closest to our star’s surface). Here’s we’re talking exposure times much shorter than a second… perhaps 1/500th to 1/125th of a second. This is all well and good for the features we want to record, but unfortunately this exposure time is way too short to capture any detail on the face of the moon, made possible by the dim earthshine. The difference is too vast.

As we step away from the sun, the corona (again, this is the sun’s atmosphere) is less bright. To properly expose this region of the solar atmosphere, we must resort to longer exposure times, perhaps 1/60th to 1/30th of a second. Notice we’re doubling to quadrupling the time needed to get detail in the inner corona. But (there’s always a “but,” isn’t there?) now that we get nice detail in the mid-corona, the inner corona becomes washed out. It’s just too bright.

By the time we get all the way to the outer corona, farthest away from the sun, we’re back in the neighborhood of 1/30th to 1/8th of a second, or even a full second. Look again at the manipulated photo… see all those delicate “streamers” far away from the sun? They’re captured with slow shutter speeds which, to beat a dead horse here, totally washes out both the inner and mid parts of the corona. Those features lose detail, turning into a white blob.

I’ll illustrate using my own photography, looking at three parts of the range, including the most extreme. In each case, all my camera settings are the same. I’m only changing the exposure time, letting in more light with each shot, in order to capture different parts of the eclipse.

A diamond ring, the very inner corona, and a red prominence (the ruby-red dot) at two-o’clock. ISO 200, F/8, 1/250 second. Green spots are lens flare (internal reflections in the glass of my lens). Photo by the author. ©2017 Mark Aaron Alsip.

 

“Mid” corona. Notice detail farther from the sun, but pay attention to the fact that detail in the inner corona, visible in the previous shot, is now wiped out due to the difference in brightness. ISO 200, F/8, 1/60 second. Photo by the author. ©2017 Mark Aaron Alsip.

Outer corona. Notice some detail appearing very far from the sun… detail that couldn’t be seen in the previous photos because the exposure wasn’t long enough. But notice how the inner and mid corona are completely wiped out. And even at this slow speed, we’re still not picking up enough light to show detail on the moon from earthshine. ISO 200, F/8, 1/2 second. Photo by the author. ©2017 Mark Aaron Alsip.

So at this point, you might be saying… “Hey, wait a minute! I’ve seen total eclipses before and much more detail was visible to me, through all parts of the wide range you’re showing here!”

And you’d be absolutely correct. Our eyes and brains are much more sophisticated than our cameras. When we look at an eclipse, these organs work together to process the incredible dynamic range of the lighting.

Read that last paragraph again please. When you look at the fanciful, admittedly-beautiful photographs showing fine detail in all parts of the corona, you are looking at deliberate manipulations made by the photographer in an attempt to recreate what he/she saw with their own eyes.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this! I’ve played around with the technique myself.

The problem, in my humble opinion, is that sometimes photographers go too far. I can’t say for certain what another person believes they have seen, and I accept that artistic license is involved in the attempt to invoke how it felt to witness totality. I respectfully submit that the photographer, and all who reproduce the photographer’s work, should be very clearly labelling the images as manipulated.

To his great credit, Dr. Sebastian Voltmer, whose work has been hijacked by unscrupulous or unaware web sites, does explain exactly what he’s doing. He even posted a disclaimer on his Twitter/X page about the misrepresentation of his work:⁸

HDR eclipse image by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer. ©2024 Dr. Sebastian Voltmer. See image credits at article’s end for disclaimer on usage rights under fair use laws.

While clearly a stunning piece of art, to a seasoned eclipse chaser, this just is not reality. Presented out of context, which others have done without Dr. Voltmer’s permission or knowledge, the image could mislead the public into believing eclipses really look this way. They are already the most beautiful event in nature. There’s no need to misrepresent them by hijacking someone else’s work. This can set high, false expectations in the public’s mind.

So How’s It Done?

Describing the various methods of producing HDR eclipse images is beyond the scope of this article. If you’re interested in learning more, you can find great reference material on the web, including this primer by Sky & Telescope Magazine.⁴

In a nutshell, there are a couple techniques I can briefly describe.

The first, and perhaps the most common, is to do what I showed earlier: take multiple images of the eclipse at various exposure settings, then “stack” them all together in a program like Photoshop, and apply a special High Dynamic Range filter to the image stack to achieve the desired result. One old trick that really makes the streaming corona “pop” is to use Photoshop’s “emboss” filter to create a masking layer that can then be used to artificially create detail that isn’t really there in the original image.

More than you want to know if you’re not a photographer: Many photographers now shoot in “raw” mode, rather than simply capturing images as jpegs like simple consumer cameras and phones will do. Raw image data preserves much more information about the original photo than a jpeg, which, due to being a compression algorithm, must necessarily throw away information you can never get back. As described in the linked Sky and Telescope article⁴, one can shoot a single raw image and pull out details through various tweaking.

It’s all up to the photographer. Photography is art, but it’s also an important scientific tool. As long as the photographer makes an effort to disclose manipulation, and, importantly, the public who consume and pass along the work maintain this disclosure, there aren’t any problems.

References
(1) The 2024 Eclipse Through the Eyes of NASA
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/april-8-total-solar-eclipse-through-the-eyes-of-nasa/
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024

(2) Eclipse Path Over Newfoundland, Map Courtesy Xavier M. Jubier/Google Maps
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=48.66416&Lng=-53.07724&Elv=26.0&Zoom=6&LC=1
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024
This map image is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

(3) Eclipse path over Mazatlan, Mexico, Map Courtesy Xavier M. Jubier/Google Maps
http://xjubier.free.fr/en/site_pages/solar_eclipses/TSE_2024_GoogleMapFull.html?Lat=23.08103&Lng=-106.24692&Elv=4.0&Zoom=8&LC=1
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024
This map image is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

(4) Eclipse Photography: Reveal Totality in HDR (Sky & Telescope, 15 Mar 2020)
https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/astrophotography-tips/revealing-totality-in-hdr/
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024

(5) “James Webb Space Telescope” (Warning: fake page. Not associated with the real JWST or NASA)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/203565655155826/
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024
This image is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

(6) “Physics-Astronomy” “sunset eclipse” (Warning: Most likely AI generated. Not how an eclipse looks! Dubious web site. Many faked/altered images found)
https://www.facebook.com/physicsdashastronomy
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024
This image is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

(7) Deep High Dynamic Range Photograph of Totality, by Dr. Sebastian Voltmer
https://twitter.com/SeVoSpace/status/1776379193678582041
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024
Dr. Voltmer’s image is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

(8) Dr. Sebastian Voltmer Sets the Record Straight
https://x.com/sevospace/status/1526185965995311105?s=46
Retrieved 13 Apr 2024
Dr. Voltmer’s image is used in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, commonly known as “fair use law”. This material is distributed without profit with the intent to provide commentary, review, education, parody, and increase public health knowledge.

(9) Hive AI-detection plugin for Chrome
https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection
Retrieved 12 Apr 2024

(10) Exploiting the Niche (Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/ExploitingTheNiche
Retrieved 13 Apr 2024

 

Other Image Credits
Images attributed to the author, ©2017 Mark Aaron Alsip. All rights reserved.

Nit-picking Popular Mechanics: We’re Losing the Moon

Above: our moon, heavily cratered from billions of years of impacts.^A

Popular Mechanics recently ran an article¹ (warning: behind paywall) that happens to concern one of my favorite science “gotchas”–we’re losing the moon.

As an avid solar eclipse chaser, I’ve always known this to be true. NASA astronauts left behind mirrors on our natural satellite, and via careful laser measurements, we know for certain that due to the transfer of angular momentum from Earth, the moon is drifting away at a rate of approximately 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) per year. One day in the very distant future, the apparent size of the moon (~1/400th that of the sun, which happens to be about 400 times further away) won’t be large enough to cover the sun entirely, and we’ll only have annular eclipses–a bright ring of sun with a huge black hole in the middle. Because the moon orbits in an elliptical pattern rather than circular, we already have annular eclipses… sometimes our satellite is just too far away in its orbit to completely cover the sun.

The Pop Mech article is actually a very good one, and gets a lot of things right. I’m just here to nit-pick the one thing it gets wrong: the story describes our moon as a natural shield against incoming asteroids and comets.

This is not true.

As per the article, supposed evidence of this protection is the heavily cratered surface of the moon. It’s worth pointing out that both our planet and the moon would have suffered the same heavy bombardment early in our solar system’s formation. Our planet, being much larger, would have statistically received even more hits. The difference is that the moon has no atmosphere, no water, no plant life, no tectonic activity, and no erosion. There’s nothing there to hide the scars that we know are hidden by natural processes here on Earth. Science knows that our planet was heavily cratered. Mother Nature has just been busy tidying it all up.

The Pop Mech description of the moon as a protective shield also conjures up images of our satellite as some type of cosmic catcher’s mitt, leaping from place to place around our planet to intercept incoming threats. That, of course, is not possible. The moon is locked in an elliptical orbit around our planet, inclined approximately 5 degrees to our own orbital plane. Without getting heavily into the math, I don’t think the odds are good here. The moon is approximately only 27% the diameter of the Earth; It takes the moon around 27 days to complete one trip around our planet.

The only way for our relatively small moon to intercept an interloper would be if by some chance it happened to be in exactly the right spot at the right time in its orbit. Otherwise, an incoming asteroid, headed straight our the planet, is going to hit us–and the moon isn’t going to be of much help.

You know what does have the “power” to deflect incoming debris? Jupiter. This massive planet is sometimes referred to as the “vacuum cleaner of the solar system”² because its massive gravity tends to eat up or deflect asteroids or comets (of course, it’s possible that the giant planet could deflect unwanted debris directly toward us–but on the whole, we’ve benefitted from the planet’s effects).

So, there you have my nit-picking of an otherwise very well written Pop Mech article. The moon really isn’t protecting us from asteroids and comets, but it is fascinating that we are losing it–and that so few people know about it. This is one of those fun facts you can drag out at parties and immediately paint a big sign on your forehead saying “look at me, I’m a geek!” But unless your drinking buddies at said party are astronomers, you can also win a lot of bets for anyone inebriated enough to challenge you. I’m not saying I actually DO this, but, well… I do have to raise money to finance this blog somehow.

The moon and sun, the way they interact with each other, and with our planet, are actually very interesting. So while we’re on the subject, why don’t we explore this topic a little more?

Enter the Young Earth Creationists

Above: An annular eclipse. One day, this will be as close as we come to a total solar eclipse. Photo from WikiCommons, see references for full credit.^B

Incredibly (or perhaps not), some young Earth creationists (YECs) have leaped on the fact that we’re losing our moon to “prove” the planet cannot possibly be 4.6 billion years old. This is the claim made by the Institution for Creation Research (ICR).³ Their argument is that, given the current rate of recession of our satellite, it would be much, much further away than it is now. Other YECs (such as Answers in Genesis, “AIG”) also say this is proof of a young Earth, but disagree with ICR, claiming that the current recession rate would only put the moon about half as far away as it is today.⁴

Because YECs have no scientific methods to actually measure or predict phenomena such as the age of the planet or lunar recession, they simply criticize real science. And, in this regard, AIG does not disappoint. They do eventually acknowledge the correct answer claimed by scientists: the rate of recession of the moon has not been constant, but paradoxically wave their hands and make the claim that no real scientist would believe this.

Well, science does believe this. Rather, science knows it. (I hate to use the word “believe” when it comes to science… it has too many faith-based connotations.) The problem actually has a mathematical solution, based in physics that we all (should have) studied in high school. This article from the University of Notre Dame⁵ states the solution so plainly, and so eloquently, that I’m at a loss to explain how anyone can miss it.

F = G * (Mass_Earth * Mass_Moon)/r^2

G is the gravitational constant, F is the calculated force of gravity when you multiply G by the masses of the Earth/Moon and divide that mass calculation by the square of the distance, r, between the two bodies.

In plain English, the force gravitational force decreases as the planet and moon grow farther apart. It’s painfully obvious that the rate of recession would change as we lose our natural satellite. But that’s not the whole story. Gravity isn’t the only force in play here. The angular momentum itself is acting on the system. I’m always careful to point out in my articles that I don’t have a degree in physics, but I did enjoy (not suffer!) a fair amount of the subject at university, and one of the main purposes of my blog is to encourage others to use what they’ve learned to read reputable sources and expand their knowledge.

And so it turns out that high school and college physics do provide an explanation for the effects of angular momentum on the Earth-Moon system, and how/why the rate of recession would change. Here’s a nice article from Cornell University.⁶ In plain English, when our planet was younger, it was spinning faster. The moon was closer, creating a larger tidal bulge than it does today. Since angular momentum must be conserved, this imparted more momentum to the moon, which (1) slowed down the Earth, and (2) allowed the moon to recess at a rate greater than that we see currently. As our planet’s rotation slowed down, and as the moon grew farther away (making the tidal bulge less pronounced), the moon’s recession slowed down.

So I don’t really understand what all the fuss is about among the YECs. Of course the recession rate of our natural satellite would change over time as it moves farther and farther away from the planet. The only people who seem confused by this fact are the young earth creationists,

It goes somewhat beyond the scope of this blog post to further explain that scientists do have direct, observable evidence that the rate of lunar recession has been changing. But I’d be happy to do a follow-up post if challenged. Followers of Bad Science Debunked know I have a running feud going with YECs, and I’d feel bad if I left them out of an article.

Without Interstellar Travel, This All Ends Badly For Humanity

Anyway, let’s get back to the Pop Mech article… we know that tides on Earth are extremely important to life, and one would expect that as we lose the moon, tides would change. And, as just mentioned, they have in fact done just that. However, the change is not drastic, and is not noticeable on human timescales… only geological ones. Popular Mechanics does a great job in pointing this out. As time has gone by in our planet’s history, life has in fact slowly evolved to adapt to such changes, and it will continue to do so.

If–and this is a big if, given what we’ve already learned about the dynamics of gravity and angular momentum at work–if the moon continues to recess at a constant rate of 1.5 inches per year, it will be approximately 95,000 miles farther away in 4 billion years. According to Newton, the gravitational attraction will decrease by the inverse square of the distance between us and the moon, so the tug on Earth and our tides will be approximately 49% less. Over geological time, life will have to evolve to deal with this.

But (there’s always a “but,” isn’t there?) even though we’ll slowly lose the wonder of total eclipses of the sun, other significant events will be going on in our very distant future. Whether humanity will survive long enough to see any of this is another question.

One of our nearest neighbors, the Andromeda Galaxy, is on a collision course with the Milky Way.^7,8 Estimates vary on when this will occur, but many fall in the ~4 billion year range, which is why I chose that value in the previous calculation of our future moon’s distance. What an incredible sight it would be to see Andromeda, barely a naked-eye target under the best of conditions, grown large in the night sky! The collision (or, probably more accurately, the merger) itself won’t involve stars colliding with each other–there’s too much space between them. But computer simulations show both galaxies will be disfigured and probably eventually merge into one.

The Andromeda Galaxy, coming soon to a neighborhood near you. Photo from WikiCommons, see references for full credit.^C

Unfortunately for us, if our descendants are still around and haven’t discovered interstellar travel yet, the events described here will be akin to celestial rolling credits at the end of a good show.

Our sun will have been running out of fuel the entire time, and sometime 5 or 6 billion years from now, will “puff out,” becoming a Red Giant that will consume most of the inner solar system. Say goodbye to Mercury and Venus. Our planet? It’s well within range. Even if Earth isn’t totally consumed, it will become inhabitable.⁹ Any descendants of humans today will, forgive the pun, be toast.

I hate to end on such a downer, so I’m going resort to my general attitude on life: let’s enjoy it while we’re here! The moon is still close enough to provide us with stunning total eclipses of the sun, and we have a really nice one, visible from an amazing number of major U.S. population centers, coming up on April 8, 2024. I’ll be writing about this more in future blogs, but if you find yourself within traveling distance of the moon’s path on this map from NASA,¹⁰

I can promise you the show of a lifetime.

The sun goes out at mid-day over Kentucky in the summer of 2017. A similar view awaits sky-watchers on April 8, 2024.^D

References
(1) It Won’t Last Forever–What Will Happen When the Moon Leaves Earth’s Orbit?
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a45874876/what-will-happen-when-the-moon-leaves-earths-orbit/
WARNING: article is behind a paywall
Retrieved 08 Jan 2024

(2) NASA/Mission Juno
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/origin?show=hs_origin_story_jupiters-influence
Retrieved 08 Jan 2024

(3) Young Age for the Moon and Earth (Institute for Creation Research)
https://www.icr.org/article/young-age-for-moon-earth/
Retrieved 21 Jan 2024

(4) Moon Inching Away from Old Earth (Answers in Genesis)
https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/moon/inching-away-old-earth/
Retrieved 21 Jan 2024

(5) Evolution: Fact or Fiction? Evidence 2: Recession of the Moon (James Applewhite, University of Notre Dame)
https://sites.nd.edu/james-applewhite/
Retrieved 21 Jan 2024

(6) Tidal Evolution of the Moon from a High-Oblique, High-Anglular-Momentum Earth (Cornell University)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.03356
Retrieved 21 Jan 2024

(7) Colliding Galaxies (American Museum of Natural History)
https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/space/milky-way-andromeda-collide#:~:text=The%20Milky%20Way%20and%20the,computer%20model%2C%20called%20a%20simulation.
Retrieved 22 Jan 2024

(8) Clash of the Titans (NASA)
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30955
Retrieved 22 Jan 2024

(9) “Aging into Gianthood” (NASA)
https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/life-and-death/chapter-6/
Retrieved 21 Jan 2024

(10) 2024 Total Eclipse: Where and When (NASA)
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/
Retrieved 23 Jan 2024

Image Credits
(A) Moon ©2024 Mark Aaron Alsip. All rights reserved.

(B) Annular eclipse ©2012 Kevin Baird, courtesy WikiCommons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike V3.0 Unsupported.

(C) Andromeda Galaxy, ©2011 Torben Hansen, courtesy WikiCommons, Creative Commons Attribution V2.0 Generic.

(D) Total solar eclipse ©2024 Mark Aaron Alsip. All rights reserved.

It’s Sep 22, First Day of Spring! Let’s Balance an Egg!

It’s the myth that refuses to die: on or about March 21, the vernal equinox, then–and only then–can an egg be balanced on its end.  This nonsense has been debunked so many times you’d think it would have disappeared into the annals of history.  You’d have thought wrong.  Here’s a YouTube video from spring, 2018:

The most obvious way to debunk this is to just balance an egg on any other day of the year.  Seeking to do it in the most snarky way possible though, I thought to wait until the other first day of spring–September 22. This is the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere in 2018.

But that raised yet another problem. It turns out that there are those out there who believe in autumnal equinox magic as well:

Sigh. Undeterred, I decided to start balancing eggs in the days leading up to the equinox, and carry on right on through. (Yes, I agree, I need a social life 🙂 )

Anyway, Here’s a balanced egg, three days before the equinox. I decided to follow the old television crime series hostage trope, including a current newspaper in my photos as proof of the date:

An egg balanced on end, 19 Sep 2018,  three days before the first day of spring (in the Southern Hemisphere). Newspaper in background verifies the date. (click/enlarge to see paper date)

And here we are again, two days before the equinox. Hey! I thought this was only possible on one (or was it two) special days of the year?

Two days before the first day of spring (in the Southern Hemisphere). An “impossibly” balanced egg. (click/enlarge to read newspaper date.)

And here we go, the first day of spring (south of the equator), and yeah, an egg can be balanced on end… just like any other day of the year.

An egg balanced on end on the first day of spring (in the Southern Hemisphere). You can balance an egg on end on ANY day of the year. (click/enlarge)

Now, a true skeptic would point out that I could have saved up a stack of newspapers and snapped all these photos on September 22. So, I’ll make a promise: tomorrow, September 23, I’ll update this article with yet another balanced egg.

Actually, I’ll make a second promise: after September 23, 2018, we will still be debunking this silly myth that you can only balance eggs on the first day of spring 😦

Update: 23 Sep 2018
As promised, here’s yet another balanced egg with backing newspaper, to prove I didn’t stockpile newsprint and shoot all of the previous shots on the autumnal equinox.

Just to assure the die-hard skeptic I didn’t stockpile newspapers and put all my eggs in one (photo) basket on the equinox, here’s a balanced egg the day after the equinox. (click/enlarge)

Eclipse Blinds Pets! (And Other Bad Science)

The road to Science Hell is paved with good intentions.

As I anxiously await my ninth total eclipse of the sun here in Western Kentucky, I was shocked to see that the swimming pool would be closed during the event in the interest of public safety. Is our resort afraid people will lose their way in the darkness and fall in & drown, or has a viral Internet rumor been spreading that looking at an eclipse while immersed in water will cause blindness?

Egad.

Bad science abounds around eclipse time.  From people locking children indoors for “protection”, to religious leaders predicting the end of the world is nigh, something about losing the sun for a few minutes brings out the daft among us.

Knowing that I’m an eclipse buff, some well-meaning coworkers at the office passed along the following semi-viral internet meme, warning of the dire consequences of not locking your pets inside during the “Great American Eclipse” of August 21:

Bad eclipse science runs rampant on social media (click/enlarge)

Pets going blind because of the eclipse?  No.  Just no.

If you aren’t in the path of totality, staring at the partially eclipsed sun is going to be just as painful and counterintuitive for your cat/dog/guppy as it would be for you. Even with 99% of the sun blocked by the moon, as it will be near my home town of Lexington, KY, the sun will be far too bright to look at with the naked eye. So why, pray tell, would Whiskers and Fido suddenly feel the urge to stare intently at the sun and fry their retinas like bacon?

Answer: they won’t. The only odd behavior you might notice from a pet during this eclipse would be if you happen to own a critter that routinely feeds or beds down at sunset. Animals sometimes get tricked into thinking that the eclipse signals nightfall. Bessie the Cow might head for the trough, Trigger the Horse might head for the barn, but if you plan on putting either in the house to protect them from the eclipse, you’re wasting your time (and risking severe carpet damage).

The only animals who need to worry about protecting their eyes during this eclipse are humans. We know something special is happening, so we tend to do something unnatural and stare at the sun. Proper eye protection is de rigeur in this case during the partial phases of the eclipse.

Fido and the other pets will have no clue what’s going on, and will happily go about their business–unless some Facebook addict ruins their day by locking them in the house.

John Hagee Repeats His “Blood Moon” Errors–On Film

Total lunar eclipse. October 17, 2014.  (Photo by the author.)

With a beautiful total lunar eclipse on slate for Saturday, April 4, old earth creationist John Hagee has resurfaced with revived claims of prophecies in the skies.  I wrote about Hagee earlier this year, debunking his claim that a tetrad (series of 4) “blood moons” was a sign from the heavens that something significant was about to happen in Israel.

This time, Hagee is back with a movie.  “Four Blood Moons”¹ rehashes the false claims the pastor made in his book by the same name.  The film opened with a special one-day release on March 23 and returns for an encore on April 9.  Based on the movie’s trailer and interviews with Hagee, it doesn’t look like the creationist has added anything new to the claims I’ve already debunked.  So I’d like to just hit the highlights here.  For a thorough point-by-point refutation of Hagee’s claims, complete with references (NASA tables of solar eclipses, information on the Hebrew calendar, the pastor’s historical mistakes, etc.), please see my article “Oh Bloody…“.²

To review: the pastor claims that major events in the history of Israel are linked to total lunar eclipses occurring on the Jewish holidays of Passover and Sukkot.  The pattern that he sees goes something like this:

1. Tragedy knocks on the door of Israel and/or the Jewish people.
2. Miraculous victory is somehow snatched from the jaws of defeat.
3. (1) and (2) are announced in the heavens by a tetrad of “blood moons” (total lunar eclipses) that magically occur during one of two Jewish holy weeks.

Hagee’s conclusion: divine intervention in Israel, proven by an invisible hand controlling the positions of the sun, earth, and moon.

Wow.

As I explained in (excruciating?) detail in my earlier piece on this subject,² Hagee is wrong in nearly every way imaginable:

1. Holidays on the Hebrew calendar are tied to lunar phases because humans designed the calendar that way.  Periodic adjustments are made to the calendar–by humans–to keep seasons (and, as a result, religious holidays) “aligned”.  It’s no accident that the sun, moon, and earth are lined up in a certain way on a given Jewish holiday.  People constructed the calendar in that manner–and they go to a lot of trouble to keep it from changing, even periodically adding a temporary month to keep the holidays from drifting out of alignment.

2. Major events cited as miraculous by Hagee do not actually coincide with “blood moons”.  He apparently never bothered to check an almanac of eclipses.  His 1967 “Six Day War” example is a great illustration.  Yes, it was triumph from tragedy for Israel.  Unfortunately for the good pastor, there was no lunar eclipse on Passover or Sukkot in ’67.  Oops.

3. In fact, most major events in Israel’s history don’t occur anywhere near an eclipse.  If the heavens are being used as a signalling device, it’s broken most of the time.  I offer as evidence the Yom Kippur War of 1973.  If ever Israel turned tragedy into triumph, wouldn’t beating off the overwhelming surprise attack in 1973 be a prime example?  Where were the holiday eclipses?  Answer: there weren’t any.

4. Hagee’s command of history is shaky at best.  For example, America wasn’t “discovered” by Columbus as Hagee claims–there were already people living there when the explorer arrived.  In any event, he wasn’t the first outsider to arrive in North America.  And, while credence could be given to the minister’s claim that the United States became an eventual safe haven for the Jewish people, it certainly didn’t remain that way for the millions of Native Americans who died at the hands of European settlers.

And, dare I mention… there was no Passover/Sukkot eclipse in 1492?

John Hagee gets it wrong again.

Other than the simple truth that eclipses actually happen, John Hagee doesn’t even try to get his story straight.  And, for some reason, his followers eat his nonsense up.  It’s a shame that an event that’s beautiful and wondrous in its own right has to be linked to superstition and fear, and that those who follow Hagee won’t take the time to fact check him.

While not as awe-inspiring as total eclipses of the sun, lunar eclipses are still a treat–and visible from a larger portion of the earth’s surface than their solar counterparts.  To check visibility of the April 4 eclipse from your area of the world, NASA provides a nice map.³ Sky & Telescope magazine offers up a brief article on the eclipse along with timetables.⁴

Image Credits
Lunar eclipse photography by the author.  Copyright (c) 2015 Mark Aaron Alsip.  All rights reserved.

“John Hagee at Podium” from Wiki Commons, by owner Christians United for Israel.  Released into public domain by owner.  Image owner does not necessarily agree with or endorse the views expressed by the author.

References
Note: to avoid increasing search engine exposure for quack web sites, I use the DoNotLink service to obfuscate URLs.   You have my promise you’re being redirected to the web site indicated in the title 🙂

(1) Four Blood Moons (Movie Official Page–Facebook)
http://www.donotlink.com/eeey

(2) Oh Bloody…
https://badscidebunked.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/oh-bloody/

(3) Total Lunar Eclipse of 2015 Apr 04 (NASA)
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2015Apr04T.pdf

Oh Bloody…

“Blood Moon” over Kentucky. Photo by the author.

As an avid astronomer, it would be nice to have just one celestial event that wasn’t hijacked by an astrologer, new age mystic, cult, or end-of-days preacher.^10,11,12  This time it’s the latter — old earth creationist John Hagee popping up with his twisted interpretation of last November’s “blood moon”, a beautiful lunar eclipse visible from much of the world.

Hagee believes that lunar eclipses are tied to major events in the history of Israel and the Jewish calendar.  He couldn’t be more wrong.

Following is a debunking in simple quote/response format using Hagee’s statements as they appeared in an online article published by CBN.¹  Since this is a science blog, I’ll concentrate mainly on the astronomy, but weave in enough history and religion to show just how far the preacher goes in violating his religion’s prohibition against lying.

What we’re going to see is that (1) there are no lunar eclipses occurring on most of the dates that Hagee claims, and (2) major events in Israel’s history occurred when there weren’t any eclipses, and (3) events on the Jewish calendar are tied to the lunar cycle because people designed it that way.

We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get started…

 

John Hagee.

Quote:

“A blood moon is when the Earth comes between the sun and the moon,  […] and the sun is shining through the atmosphere of the Earth and casts up on the moon a red shadow.  And so the moon appears to be red.”

Response:  One point to Hagee.  He got something right.  Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from here…

 

Quote:

“The sun and the moon and the Earth are controlled by God almighty,” Hagee said. “He is the one that is getting them in a direct alignment on a certain day at a certain time — but each time, it’s a Passover or Sukkot.”

Response:  The paths of the sun and moon are controlled by gravity and inertia, just like all the other bodies in the universe.  But even if you grant Hagee the point and say that God created inertia and gravity, there’s still nothing special about a blood moon occurring on a Jewish holiday.

Jewish holidays are based on a lunar calendar, not a solar calendar.  This means that, from year to year, they don’t  begin on the same day of the solar calendar that Hagee uses (running from January through December).  Stay with me…

Lunar eclipses can only occur during a full moon, when the earth is between the sun and the moon.  It’s important to keep this in mind, so I’ll say it again: lunar eclipses (blood moons) can only occur during a certain phase of the moon (full moon).

It’s not a coincidence that the moon is in a certain phase when a given Jewish holiday begins–and it’s not a miracle–it’s the only time it can happen.  Judaism placed its holidays on a lunar calendar, just as Americans placed the 4th of July holiday on a solar calendar.

Compare a list of Jewish holidays to moon phases during 2014^2,3 and do the same for 2015^2,3 and 2016,^2,3 and you’ll quickly see the connection.  Keep in mind that the cited tables list solar calendar dates, but the Jewish holidays are based on a lunar calendar.  These different calendars add to the woo factor of Hagee’s miracles.  The Jewish holidays keep popping up on different dates on Hagee’s solar calendar and the moon appears to be “chasing” those holiday dates.  It’s magic!

Well, not really…

24-year Jewish calendar showing the month Adar II (the month of Adar bumped from its normal spot on the calendar by the leap-year addition Adar I). Click image for large version.

There’s a fun twist: it takes the moon a little over 29.5 solar days to orbit the earth, so the Jewish month is about an odd half solar day long.  Over time this “error” accumulates and would force holidays to occur out of season as days shift on the calendar.

To compensate, every few years, an extra month is inserted into the calendar.  The regular month of Adar becomes “Adar II”, and the temporary extra month is named “Adar I”.  This concept should be familiar to many — a solar year is really 365.25 days long, not 365.  Over time, this error would accumulate and the seasons/holidays of the solar calendar would become “off”.  (For Northern Hemisphere Christians, Christmas (December 25) would eventually occur in the summer!)

We know the corrective measure as the leap year.

Why am I banging away at the details like this?  To impress upon the reader just how hard people have worked throughout history to make sure that events such as religious holidays here on earth line up with an event going on up in the sky.

There’s an additional twist: in Judaism, days begin at nightfall, not at midnight as they do on the solar calendar.  For those of you keeping score at home, tying a calendar to both the moon and sun in ways like this technically makes the Jewish calendar a “lunisolar” calendar.  (You’re welcome).

But is there an eclipse every full moon? No.  This is because of yet another twist: with respect to the earth’s orbit around the sun (the “ecliptic”), the moon’s orbit forms an angle of approximately 5 degrees.  Put more simply, if you drew a line between the middle of the earth to the middle of the sun, the moon would appear to swing “above” or “below” the line by 5 degrees as it orbits.  Usually, when the moon is full, it is “above” or “below” our planet’s shadow, and no eclipse occurs.

So, given all of this information on Jewish holidays, full moons, and lunar eclipses, we’re finally ready to look at some actual historical events and Hagee’s claims, and see what, if anything, has been happening on certain Jewish holidays.  Can we make any prophecies of future events based on what we find?

 

Quote:

“I believe that in these next two years, we’re going to see something dramatic happen in the Middle East involving Israel that will change the course of history in the Middle East and impact the whole world.”

Response:  When is something not happening involving Israel that impacts the Middle East and the whole world?¹³  This is, remember, a country straddling the geographic heart and soul of 3 major world religions.  This kind of prophecy is as easy as predicting an earthquake on the San Andreas fault.  Can you be more specific please?

Israel’s 1948 War.  When is something of importance NOT happening here?  Click image to enlarge.

Quote:

In the past, the rare appearance of four blood moons on these feast days has coincided with major events for Israel and the Jewish people.

In 1492, Spain expelled the Jews. Columbus also discovered America, which became a safe haven for the Jewish people.

Response:  Columbus didn’t “discover” America.  There were millions of people living there when he arrived.  But the honor of being the first foreigner to discover the continent is seriously in doubt.⁵  Historians say that serious claimants include John Chabot and the Vikings.  But it doesn’t matter.  There were a lot of people living in America when Columbus arrived… consensus estimates seem to put the total around ten million, though some go higher.⁴

Unfortunately for Hagee there were no total eclipses of the moon in 1492.  There’s nothing even close.  Had he bothered to check, he would not have found totality before November 27, 1490 and then not again until April 2, 1493.¹⁶

Having already missed the mark with no total lunar eclipses in Columbus’ banner year, Hagee will be saddened to learn that not even his 1490 and 1493 eclipses occurred during Passover or Sukkot.^16,17,18

As a side-note… America did indeed become a safe haven for the Jewish people, as Hagee states, but sadly it did not remain so for the millions of people already living there when Columbus arrived.¹⁵

 

Quote:

 “In each of these blood moons, you have something that begins in tragedy and ends in triumph”

Response:  On October 6, 1973,  Arab states launched a surprise attack on Israel during Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.  Israel was sent reeling by the attack but turned tragedy into triumph, reaching the outskirts of Damascus in Syria and completely encircling the Egyptian army in the Sinai Peninsula.⁶

There was no set of 4 blood moons.  There wasn’t even a lunar eclipse during the holidays.⁷

Wait a minute.  I thought events beginning with tragedy and ending in triumph were supposed to be signaled by blood moons?

Destroyed Israeli tank, 1973 Yom Kippur War. The war began in tragedy and ended in triumph.   There was no “blood moon.”

 

In all fairness to Hagee, I picked the 1973 date.  So let’s let John pick the date…

 

Quote:

“In 1967, Israel won the Six-Day War and recaptured Jerusalem.

“For the first time in 2,000 years, Jerusalem and the State of Israel were together again,” Hagee said.

Response:  It kills me when authors don’t take time to do their own research.  Notice that in the previous response, I picked the war, and could be accused of cheating.  This time, Hagee picked the war.  Let’s look at 1967:

In 1967 PLO attacks on Israel, Syrian attacks on Israeli civilian settlements, and massing of Egyptian troops on the Israeli border resulted in Israel launching an attack on Jordan, Egypt, and Syria.  The three main Arab belligerents were supported by 11 additional Arab countries and/or political factions.  In just 6 days, Israel won large swathes of new territory, turning tragedy into what some consider miraculous victory.⁸

There was no set of 4 blood moons.  There wasn’t even a lunar eclipse during the holidays.⁹

Israeli soldiers, 1967 “6 Day War”.  The war began in tragedy and ended in triumph.  There was no “blood moon.”

 

Quote:

“He said it’s still unclear what the coming blood moons will bring, but he is certain of one thing.”

Response:  Given Hagee’s horrendous track record in history and predictions, I don’t even want to know what that one thing is.

 

Totality is ending. So is this article.   Image by the author.

Image Credits

All lunar eclipse photography by the author.  Copyright (c) 2014 Mark Aaron Alsip.  All rights reserved.

“John Hagee at Podium” from Wiki Commons, by owner Christians United for Israel.  Released into public domain by owner.    Image owner does not necessarily agree with or endorse the views expressed by the author.

“24 year Jewish Calendar for Adar II” from Wiki Commons.  This work is in the public domain of the United States because copyright has expired due to publication date prior to January 1, 1923.

“Israeli Soldiers in 6 Day War” from Wiki Commons.  Released into public domain for all use by owner “ROSENMAN424“.  Image owner does not necessarily agree with or endorse the views expressed by the author.

“Destroyed Israeli Tank” from Wiki Commons.  Image is in public domain as a work of the Egyptian government.

“Israel 1948 War map” from Wiki Commons.  Image released into public domain by Mr. Edward J. Krasnoborski and Mr. Frank Martini, Department of History, U.S. Military Academy.   Map authors do not necessarily agree with or endorse the views expressed by the author.

 

References

Note: To avoid increasing search engine exposure for quack web sites while still providing a link to all my references (like a good scientist should), I use the DoNotLink URL obfuscator to alter links to those sites.  I promise you I’m not redirecting you to porn 🙂

(1) Divine Sign for Israel? Hagee Explains Blood Moons (CBN article being debunked)
http://www.donotlink.com/gp0

(2) Jewish Holidays and Festivals for 2014, 2015, 2016 (Chabab.org)
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/default_cdo/jewish/holidays.htm

(3) Full Moon Calendar – dates and times for 2014, 2015, 2016
http://moongiant.com/Full_Moon_New_Moon_Calendar.php

(4) Alan Taylor (2002). American colonies; Vol 1, Penguin History of the United States, p. 40. ISBN 9780142002100
http://books.google.com/books?id=NPoAQRgkrOcC&pg=PA40&dq=pre-Columbian+population+million&cd=6#v=onepage&q=pre-Columbian%20population%20million&f=false

(5) So, Who Did Discover America?
http://www.historytoday.com/s-frederick-starr/so-who-did-discover-america

(6) Jewish Virtual Library, Chapter 8: The 1973 Yom Kippur War
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths3/MF1973.html

(7) Lunar Eclipses: 1971 – 1980
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEdecade/LEdecade1971.html

(8) The Six-Day War: Background & Overview
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/67_War.html

(9) Catalog of Lunar Eclipses: 1901 to 2000
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE1901-2000.html

(10) New Age followers still waiting for aliens to beam them up 15 years after Heaven’s Gate cult suicides left 39 people dead
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120869/Heavens-Gate-cult-committed-mass-suicide-15-years-ago.html

(11) Alignment 2012 by John Major Jenkins
http://www.donotlink.com/bz8t

(12) Major Planetary Configurations (“Astrology- Find Your Fate”)
http://www.donotlink.com/bz8s

(13) Key Dates in Israel’s History
http://archive.adl.org/israel/advocacy/chronology.html#.VDbmyRaV00o

(14)  Jewish Calendar
http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

(15) Wounded Knee
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/knee.htm

(16) NASA Five Millennium Catalog of Lunar Eclipses (1401 to 1500)
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEcat5/LE1401-1500.html

(17) Hebrew Calendar 2271 – 2272 (Roman year 1940 B.C.)
http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=1490b.c.e

(18) Hebrew Calendar 2268 – 2269 (Roman year 1943 B.C.)
http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/?roman=1493b.c.e