A Computer-generated video is being falsely shared as real footage of an asteroid hitting the Moon - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 8, 2023
A video allegedly showing an asteroid hitting the Moon’s surface has gone viral on social media. Let’s fact-check this video through this article.
Claim: This footage shows an asteroid striking the Moon’s surface.
Fact: This is a Computer-generated video; it does not show actual footage of an asteroid hitting the Moon’s surface. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
Firstly, we searched the internet to see if the media reported any such incident. However, this did not lead us to any credible sources.
To learn more details about the viral clip, we performed a reverse image search using a few of its keyframes. This search led us to an Instagram post containing the same video (flipped on its vertical axis), credited to a social media user named “diego.sinclair.” Uploaded by a page named deep astronomy (they upload space and astronomy-related videos), this video has been described as a CGI (Computed Generated Imagery) video.
Searching for diego.sinclair on the internet led us to a YouTube channel that contained the same video (This channel also contains similar videos). Diego has mentioned in the comments that this is an edited video. Replying to a user’s comment who expressed their skepticism on the video, he said, “It’s just an edit, but explosions from impacts do happen on the moon.” This makes it clear that it is an edited video, and the visuals do not represent an actual asteroid striking the Moon.
A further search on the Internet to investigate whether such incidents were captured on the Moon recently revealed (here, here, and here) that a man named “Daichi Fujii, curator of the Hiratsuka City Museum, captured a meteor hitting the moon, triggering a brief flash on the surface.”
私の観測史上最大の月面衝突閃光を捉えることができました！2023年2月23日20時14分30.8秒に出現した月面衝突閃光を、平塚の自宅から撮影した様子です（実際の速度で再生）。なんと1秒以上も光り続ける巨大閃光でした。月は大気がないため流星や火球は見られず、クレーターができる瞬間に光ります。 pic.twitter.com/Bi2JhQa9Q0
Fujii Tweeted a video of this event, stating, “I was able to catch the biggest lunar impact flash in my observation history! This is a picture of the lunar impact flash that appeared at 20:14:30.8 on February 23, 2023, taken from my home in Hiratsuka (replayed at actual speed). It was a huge flash that continued to shine for more than 1 second. Since the Moon has no atmosphere, meteors and fireballs cannot be seen, and the moment a crater is formed, it glows.“
In 2013, “The Guardian” also reported a similar event. Reportedly, astronomers captured a Meteorite striking the Moon. At that time, it was considered the largest moon impact ever recorded.
To sum up, a Computer-generated video is being falsely shared as real footage of an asteroid hitting the Moon.