Will the moon turn green on April 20th? Fact Check
Rumours are spreading via social media that claim the moon will turn green on April 20th for around 90 minutes.
The rumours claim that this is due to several planets lining up and that the phenomenon – aptly named “Green Moon” – only occurs “once every 420 years”. An example of the rumour can be seen below –
On April 20th several planets are going to align which will cause the earth’s moon to appear green for about 90 minutes.
The phenomenom is known as “green moon” and only happens once every 420 years.
Please share this event
Unsurprisingly, the rumours are false and have been debunked by numerous astronomy outlets. The rumours first appeared to have spread in 2016, but have continued to circulate in identical fashion in every year since, with only the year changing.
Space.com notes…
As has been the case with the bogus Mars, Nibiru and zero-gravity hoaxes, the green-moon message implores you to “share this event!” And sadly, many people have apparently been snookered into doing just that.
And EarthSky say..
No, there won’t be a green moon on April 20, 2016 … or on May 29.
The rumours often appear to subtly refer to the use of marijuana. April 20th is the unofficial national weed day, an unofficial day celebrating the use of cannabis. This is likely because a code word to refer to marijuana is “420”, and April 20th is 4/20. Needless to say, this is almost certainly where the seemingly arbitrary claims that “this happens once every 420 years” comes from too.
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Alternative versions of the rumour claim that the moon will be turning green on May 29th, though again, those claims are equally as spurious.
Other astronomy themed hoaxes in the past have included the claim that Mars will appear as big as the moon and the claim that NASA have confirmed a 6 day period of darkness.
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