FACT CHECK: Has NASA confirmed that there will be 15
straight days of darkness in November 2015?
Claim: NASA confirmed there will be 15 straight
days of darkness in November 2015.
Origins: On 14 July 2015, the web site Newswatch33 published an article titled “NASA Confirms Earth Will Experience 15 Days of Complete Darkness in November 2015,” claiming:
NASA has confirmed that the Earth
will experience 15 days of total darkness between November 15 and November 29,
2015. The event, according to NASA, hasn’t occurred in over 1 Million years.
Astronomers from NASA have indicated
that the world will remain in complete darkness starting on Sunday, November
15, 2015 at 3 a.m. and will end on Monday, November 30, 2015 at 4:15 p.m.
According to officials, the “November Black Out” event will be caused by
another astronomical event between Venus and Jupiter.
Charles Bolden, who was appointed to
head of NASA by President Obama, issued a 1000 page document explaining the
event to the White House.
While Charles Bolden is a real NASA
official, the Newswatch33 web site is not a legitimate news outlet. Newswatch33
is a fake news site began darkening the doorstep of social media networks
shortly after the nearly identical NewsWatch28 fake news site shut down in
mid-2015. Moreover, the “15 days of darkness” yarn was lifted from an older
(debunked) viral rumor that has been around the online block several times
before.
Newswatch33 has hoaxed social media
users a number of times since its inception, falsely claiming that supporters
raised $4 million for the defense of Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Roof,
that a girl was electrocuted by her iPhone’s earbuds, that Jay-Z and Beyonce
purchased the rights to the Confederate flag, and that the federal government
had impregnated inexpensive cigars with listening devices.
Last updated: 22 July 2015
Originally published: 22 July 2015