The Real Story Behind Fake NASA Diwali Photo From Space That Goes Viral Every Year

On Diwali this year, as is ritual, the Internet’s favourite “NASA" Diwali photo has found its way into the pipelines of Twitter again. However, unlike the other years, people were more in the mood to take a few digs at the hoax rather than fall for it. The fake photo claims to show what India looks like from space on Diwali and has been debunked a number of times down the years. As per NASA, the photo is actually from the satellites of US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). It shows population growth over time, with the help of city lights. The white areas show city lights that were visible before 1992, and the blue, green and red ones show those that appeared in 1992, 1998 and 2003 respectively. The colour composite was created by NOAA scientist Chris Elvidge in 2003. Diwali lights are, in fact, too miniscule to be photographed from space.

“NASA’s biggest annual responsibility is to disown this Viral “satellite image" of Indian subcontinent of Diwali night," a Twitter user wrote.

Over the years, a number of public figures and celebrities have also fallen for the hoaxical photo and their old tweets could be seen recirculating again, with some people poking a bit of good-natured fun at them. Virender Sehwag had tweeted it in 2015; Madhur Bhandarkar had done the same.

From Diwali lights at their building complexes to uniquely shaped potholes filled with muddy water, it seems that the infamous photo is finally the stuff of memes, with not as many people falling for the hoax. However, NASA understood the assignment and tweeted out a real photo of the festival of lights for those that apparently just can’t do without one. The NASA History Office tweeted out an infrared view of South Asia on the evening of Diwali in 2012. It was captured by NASA’s Suomi NPP Satellite. This image, NASA’s website says, “is based on data collected by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared". However, even that had to be brightened so as to make the city lights easier to distinguish.

Debunking the fake viral image, NASA wrote on their website, “In reality, any extra light produced during Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space".

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram.