Fact Check: Solar Eclipse Captured in 'Beautiful NASA Photo' Is Actually AI-Generated
Claim:
A photo shared online in mid-July 2024 was released by NASA and authentically showed the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse.
Rating:
On July 18, 2024, a photograph purportedly released by NASA spread on X, allegedly showing the April 8, 2024, total eclipse.
"One of the best shot of Total Solar Eclipse from 08-04-2024. Via NASA," one X user captioned the image, amassing more than 1.2 million views at the time of this writing.
(X user @ArtorOtherThing)
"One of the best shot of Total Solar Eclipse from 08-04-2024," another X user captioned the photo. The picture was also shared on other social media platforms, such as Threads , YouTube and Facebook .
Other X users described the image as " beautiful ," " pretty " and " f***ing cool ."
However, because the image showed signs of being generated using artificial-intelligence software, and AI detection tools indicated an extremely high probability of it being AI-generated, we rated this claim and photo as "Fake."
Google Images and TinEye search results indicated the image was first shared on April 10, 2024. Moreover, three AI detection tools, Hive , Is It AI? and AI or Not , strongly suggested the image was AI-generated.
(Hive)
Finally, the photograph was not available on NASA's website or social media accounts, and it had various features suggesting it was artificially generated, such as an improbably large sun positioned unusually close to the horizon.
In April 2024, several other fact-checking organizations, such as LeadStories , Fact Crescendo from Sri Lanka, and Rumor Scanner from Bangladesh, also concluded the image was AI-generated.
Below you can watch a video of the 2024 total solar eclipse streamed live on NASA's YouTube channel on April 8, 2024:
Snopes found an authentic, similar photograph shared by NASA on April 2, 2024, that featured the solar eclipse corona observed during the April 20, 2023, total solar eclipse from Exmouth, Australia.
(apod.nasa.gov)
The explanation provided below the picture informed readers it was created "using multiple images and digital processing":
Only in the fleeting darkness of a total solar eclipse is the light of the solar corona easily visible. Normally overwhelmed by the bright solar disk, the expansive corona, the sun's outer atmosphere, is an alluring sight. But the subtle details and extreme ranges in the corona's brightness, although discernible to the eye, are notoriously difficult to photograph. Pictured here, however, using multiple images and digital processing, is a detailed image of the Sun's corona taken during the April 20, 2023 total solar eclipse from Exmouth, Australia. Clearly visible are intricate layers and glowing caustics of an ever changing mixture of hot gas and magnetic fields. Bright looping prominences appear pink just around the Sun's limb. A similar solar corona might be visible through clear skies in a narrow swath across the North America during the total solar eclipse that occurs just six days from today.
Sources:
2024 Total Eclipse - NASA Science. https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/ . Accessed 23 July 2024.
AI or Not | AI Detector to Check for AI in Images & Audio. https://www.aiornot.com/ . Accessed 23 July 2024.
APOD: 2024 April 2 – Detailed View of a Solar Eclipse Corona. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240402.html . Accessed 23 July 2024.
Fact Check: Faked Photo Does NOT Show Total Eclipse With Swirling Corona -- AI Generated | Lead Stories. 11 Apr. 2024, https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2024/04/fact-check-faked-photo-does-not-show-total-eclipse-with-swirling-corona-ai-generated.html .
Hive Moderation. https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection . Accessed 23 July 2024.
"Home." Is It AI?, https://isitai.com/ . Accessed 23 July 2024.
Krishantha, Kalana. "AI-Generated & Digitally Manipulated Images Viral As Real Photos Taken During Solar Eclipse Recent Solar Eclipse." Fact Crescendo Sri Lanka English | The Leading Fact-Checking Website, 16 Apr. 2024, https://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/english/ai-generated-digitally-manipulated-images-viral-as-real-photos-taken-during-solar-eclipse/ .
NASA. 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA (Official Broadcast). 2024. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MJY_ptQW1o .
পূর্ণগ্রাস সূর্যগ্রহণের দৃশ্য দাবিতে এআই দিয়ে তৈরি ছবি প্রচার. 18 Apr. 2024, https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/circulation-of-ai-generated-image-claiming-total-solar-eclipses-photo/109570.
