A few days before June 24, a piece of news said five planets in our solar system would travel on the same alignment. This news had been widely published and shared on social media. Then, a picture showing five light rings on the same alignment was posted on social media. It was claimed the five planets in the solar system were in the same alignment. This picture with such a claim had been shared many times by Khmer-speaking social media users a few days after June 24. However, after running Google Reverse Image Search, it proves the claim over the picture is false.
Social Media Claim
A Facebook user posted a picture on social media, showing five light rings were in the same alignment in a night view. The social media user claimed the picture was of five planets in the solar system traveling in the same alignment in the early morning of June 24.
The claim over the picture had been shared more than 200 times by Khmer-speaking social media users along with a mixture of comments and reactions.
Below is the capture of the claim posted on Facebook on June 24, saying “Five planets assembled at 4 a.m. June 24, 2022.”
The same claim was also shared to different social media groups which consist of a hundred thousand Facebook users as members.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began checking facts over the picture by running Google Reverse Image Search which led us to find out the truth below.
We found the same picture had been widely shared on the internet, especially on social media networks. It was circulated on social media many years ago, but it was not just happened on June 24 this year.
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found the picture shared on Pinterest with some detail saying the light rings were a solar eclipse happening in Tokyo. This picture was referred to a web portal 500px.com.
Pinterest Post | Archived Link
By searching on 500px.com, we found the same picture published 10 years ago with a short description “Annular solar eclipse at Tokyo.” We also found the picture of the solar eclipse that happened in Japan in 2012 was taken by Yoshi Sekey.
The solar eclipse happened at Tokoya on May 12 in 2012, according to a report by Guillaume Erard more than 10 years ago.
Guillaume Erard | Archived Link
The same picture was debunked by the fact-checking team in Sri Lanka in 2019 after a social media claim said it was a view of the solar eclipse seen in Sri Lanka and India. Please see the debunked story here.
A publication by BBC’s Science Focus magazine said the five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn would be seen being in the same alignment before the dawn of June 24 this year.
The magazine suggested the alignment of the five planets could be seen around 4:10 am, but they were just light spots in the sky because of their very long distance from our planet. For more details, please see here.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found out the claim described above is false. The picture showing five light rings is not the view of five planets in our solar system that was on the same alignment on June 24. The picture is of the solar eclipse that happened in Japan’s capital city Tokyo 10 years ago.
Title:An Image of Solar Eclipse Falsely Claimed as Five-Planet Alignment
Fact Check By: Jay UdomResult: False
