As, I am sure, everyone knows, when on the calendar April 1, it is better not to believe anyone. On the occasion of April Fools' Day, I decided to recall the most famous astronomical hoaxes. Some are dated back to the beginning of the last millennium, others are products of modernity and pop up on the net with enviable frequency. As they say, let's go!
Letter from Toledo
Around 1184, a letter addressed to the Pope began circulating in Western Europe, allegedly written by monks-astrologers from Toledo. It told that the end of the world would come already in 1186. Hurricane winds will rise all over the world, earthquakes will begin, crop failures will begin, all coastal cities will go underground, and the skies will turn black. Well, after all of the above, a terrifying voice will be heard that will destroy the hearts and souls of those who survived. All this fun had to happen because of the rare parade of planets "in the sign of Libra and the tail of the Dragon."
Of course, predictions about the end of the world were made both before and after 1184. But the letter from Toledo became a real classic of the genre, causing panic throughout Europe. The Archbishop of Canterbury even announced a 72-hour fast to prevent a disaster. Presumably it worked because, oddly enough, the apocalypse never happened in 1186. Some historians believe that the panic over the letter precipitated the announcement of the third crusade.
This is not the end of the story. In modern terms, the letter went viral and continued to circulate throughout Europe for several centuries. The content remained unchanged, only the dates and names changed. The 1214 letter proclaimed the end of the world in five years. The version of the document that appeared at the end of the 14th century was attributed to French monks. Even in 1480, the letter still continued to excite the population. This time it promised the end of the world in 1510. Well, if you remember the modern horror stories about the parades of the planets and other astrological nonsense that appear with enviable frequency, we can say with confidence that the letter from Toledo lives and lives to this day.
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Moon Beavers and Mouse Men (AKA Big Moon Swindle)
From August 25 to August 31, 1835, six articles were published in the New York newspaper Sun, describing the great discovery made by the famous astronomer John Herschel. According to the newspaper, Herschel built a huge reflector telescope, and then connected a microscope to it, which made it possible to achieve an unprecedented 42-thousand-fold increase.
With the help of this miracle instrument, Herschel immediately made many amazing discoveries. But the main sensation awaited him when he pointed the telescope at the moon. According to Sun publications, he was able to make out the sea, oceans, rivers, numerous volcanoes, forests, palm trees, and even fruits and flowers on the surface of the satellite. "Herschel" did not skimp on the amazing pictures of lunar wonders - islands of rock crystal with beaches covered with fragments of the same stone shimmering in all colors of the rainbow, mountain peaks made of solid sapphires, transparent quartz ridges, etc.
Numerous animals and birds were also observed through the telescope. On the moon were found the likeness of terrestrial bison and sheep, animals resembling blue goats with a single horn in the middle of the forehead. Horned bears, several species of deer, gray pelicans, storks and wild pigeons were also spotted. Of course, there were also intelligent beings on the moon. They were two-legged beavers who lived in huts and knew how to use fire, as evidenced by the plumes of smoke over the rooftops. Beavers carried their babies in their forelimbs.
There was also a race of "mouse-men" on the moon. They were described as bat-like, winged humanoids overgrown with dark fur, with faces resembling orangutans. They were engaged in eating fruit, swimming in moonlit rivers, flying from place to place and, entertainments that "could hardly be reconciled with our earthly notions of decency." Further "observations" showed that on the moon there is not one, but several races of mice, and the lighter the skin tone, the more highly developed community they belonged to. The last of the varieties outwardly "was only slightly inferior to the angels." The crown of the story was the announcement of the discovery on the moon of a temple of mice with walls of polished sapphire and a copper roof.
This "sensation" helped greatly increase the newspaper's circulation. Since the speed of communication between continents at that time was determined by the speed with which ships crossed the Atlantic, the North American press actively reprinted Sun articles for several weeks. Few paid attention to the objections of astronomers and the outrage of Edgar Alan Poe, who said that the newspaper simply plagiarized the plot of his story "The Unusual Journey of Hans Pfaal," published a few weeks before the revelations of "Herschel."
It is said that Herschel himself was initially very amused by the Sun articles. The poor fellow did not even suspect that he would have to answer idiotic questions about mouse people and moon beavers from people who believed in the veracity of Sun publications and did not read the refutation for many years.
The success of the Great Moon Swindle has spawned a lot of imitations. In American newspapers, articles regularly appeared that the satellite of our planet was about to collapse, that astronomers had built a huge telescope and saw proletarians chained in one chain on the moon, etc. But none of them received even a fraction of the popularity that stories about lunar beavers did.
Global warming of 1874
Sensation! Scientists have discovered that due to human activity, our planet is gradually warming up. So far, the effect is insignificant, but soon everything will change. Europe will turn into tropics, and in a few years the Earth will be so hot that life on it will become impossible. Scientists are trying to warn politicians, but all in vain: they are too busy squabbling and preparing for wars.
Sounds familiar? But in fact we are talking about a history of more than a century ago. In February 1874, the Kansas City Times published a "letter" from an anonymous American scholar living in Florence. It told about a terrible discovery made by the famous astronomer Giovanni Donati. Over the years, he measured the distance between the Earth and the Sun. To his horror, Donati discovered that after the laying of the transatlantic telegraph cable, the distance between the heavenly bodies began to gradually decrease. When another cable was laid across the Atlantic, the process accelerated. Donati realized that cables act like huge electromagnets. According to his forecasts, in 12 years the climate in Europe will become tropical, and soon after that our planet will completely fall into the Sun.
The article said that Donati tried in vain to warn world governments, but no one listened to him. In desperation, he convinced several of his colleagues to take a ship to the Atlantic to destroy the cable. They managed to damage it, but soon the cable was repaired. Realizing that everything was in vain, Donati fell into a deep depression and died.
The Kansas City Times article attracted some attention and was reprinted by other newspapers. But by that time, hoaxes on scientific topics appeared in the American press every couple of weeks, so the authors did not manage to achieve the same effect as with mouse people. However, this is one of the first stories of the imminent end of the world due to human technology. It's even a shame that there was no Hollywood in the 19th century. A truly beautiful Victorian blockbuster could have come out of this plot.
A small leap for man, a huge leap for all mankind
On April 1, 1976, the famous British astronomer and popularizer of science Patrick Moore announced on the BBC radio station "a grand event in the history of astronomy." According to him, at exactly 9:47 am, the then planet Pluto was supposed to pass behind Jupiter, which would lead to a temporary decrease in Earth's gravity. Moore told the audience that if they jump into the air at this time, they will be able to experience a "floating sensation."
After 9:47 a.m., the BBC's telephones glowed with calls from hundreds of people claiming they had experienced a decrease in gravity. One lady, either with a very good sense of humor, or with a very rich imagination, stated that at that moment she and her 11 friends were smoothly flying all over the room.
Now this prank is considered one of the best April Fools' jokes in history. And, as you know, all good things sooner or later get a remake. So the story about weightlessness on Earth, like a letter from Toledo, came to life again, but with different dates. In December 2014, on social networks, as well as on some channels, like Bred-TV Ren-TV, messages began to appear that January 4 (which is symbolic, this is Newton's birthday according to the Gregorian calendar) at exactly 9:47 am Pluto will pass right behind Jupiter, because of which people who jumped can experience a state of weightlessness. Reports of the impending miracle again referred to Patrick Moore. It's a shame he died back in 2012 without seeing the unexpected resurrection of his joke.
Mars is the size of the moon
It would seem that the era of the Internet should have put an end to at least the most absurd astronomical stories that do not require any special knowledge from readers. I understand the 19th century, when there was no radio, no television, let alone the Internet. But now what is the problem to drive a few words into a search engine to check basic facts? But, as practice shows, everyday reality has little chance in the fight against beautiful fantasies.
Perhaps one of the most famous astronomical tales of the 21st century was born in 2003 and still hasn't died. I'm sure many of you at least once, but came across a heading like "Mars will be visible in the sky as the full moon" or "On August 27, raise your eyes and look at the night sky. The planet Mars will pass only 34.65 thousand miles from Earth. The planet will be visible to the naked eye as a full moon. It will look like two moons above the Earth! The next time Mars is so close to Earth will only be in 2287."
This story first appeared on the eve of the great opposition in 2003, when Mars and Earth approached at a distance of just under 56 million kilometers (for comparison, the average distance between the Earth and the Moon is about 380 thousand kilometers). These days, the apparent magnitude of Mars in the sky was - 2.9, which is brighter than Sirius, but noticeably inferior to the maximum brightness of Venus. Before the confrontation, a letter titled Mars Spectacular began circulating around the network, dedicated to this event. Its text contained the following phrase: "at a magnification of only 75 times, Mars will look larger than the full moon when viewed with the naked eye." And all would be fine, but with subsequent citations and re-posts, the piece about the increase by 75 times often disappeared. But the part about "Mars will look bigger than the full moon" remained.
And as they say, off we go. August 2003 came and went, and the story of Mars the size of the Moon continues to pop up on the Internet almost every year. To be honest, I would not be surprised if it continues to circulate on the network in a hundred years. Well, if, of course, we assume that the Earth will still exist, and it will not be destroyed by another rare parade of planets.
Latvian meteorite
19th century newspapers printed ducks to boost their circulation. In the 21st century, electronics have replaced paper, but the principles of sensation have not changed much. On October 25, 2009, the media reported that a meteorite fell in the area of the Latvian city of Mazsalaca, forming a crater 20 meters wide and 5 meters deep. The scene was cordoned off by rescuers and the military, and radiation measurements were taken. Soon, a video shot by a shaking camera appeared on youtube, in which some kind of burning mass was captured.
It quickly became clear that there was no meteorite. The hole was dug by hand, after which a flammable liquid was poured into it and set on fire. It turned out that all this was an advertising campaign from a local mobile operator. The company's marketers modestly stated that they only wanted to "inspire the Latvian society and arouse interest in Latvia, so that they would start talking about it all over the world."
Two weeks of darkness
In the fall of 2015, posts referring to NASA began to appear on the Internet that, from November 15, the Earth would plunge into darkness for half a month. Their text stated that “during conjunction, Venus will begin to move along the southwest of Jupiter, as a result of which it will shine 10 times brighter than the gas giant. Its glow will heat up Jupiter's gases, triggering a reaction that will release huge masses of hydrogen. Because of this, a super-powerful explosion will occur on the Sun, accompanied by a temperature rise of up to 9000 degrees. As a result, the luminary will fade and take on a bluish tint. It will take at least 14 days for the Sun to return to its previous form."
Despite the absolute nonsense of the text, in comparison with which the lunar beavers and killer telegraphs look like solid science fiction, many portals reprinted it, once again proving that the main thing is a loud headline, and reality does not play a special role. As befits a polar fake, the story of two weeks of darkness reappeared on the Internet in 2016. Most likely, 2017 will be no exception.
Solar eclipse from space
Well, in conclusion, it is probably worth remembering about the fake astronomical pictures. In principle, fake photos were taken back in the 19th century, but they cannot be compared with the digital age. Now on the net you can find a whole lot of "amazing" astrophotography that has nothing to do with reality. A lot of them. There are a lot of them. Probably, it is worth making a separate post about them somehow. Here I will limit myself to one of the most famous pictures, which I stumble upon a couple of times a year.
This photo is usually accompanied by a caption that it looks like a solar eclipse from the ISS. The picture is certainly beautiful, even if you put it on your desktop, but alas, it has little in common with reality. This is actually art drawn by Japanese artist A4size-ska back in 2009 and posted on DeviantArt. A photo of the eclipse from the ISS looks something like this.
I agree that the first picture certainly looks much more beautiful. But such is it, reality.
Kirill Razmyslovich