Many people have been duped by a false film purporting to show the Moon passing the North Pole. “The moon is at the North Pole, where the day lasts 24 hours and the moon appears in only 30 seconds and conceals the sun for only 5 seconds before disappearing, a spectacular spectacle,” tweeted Twitter user “Ollie and Dave” above the video.
People have taken the bogus film of the Moon passing over the North Pole quite seriously, despite the fact that it was plainly intended as a joke. Many users appear to believe it is true – there have been 59,000 retweets as of this writing – and those who participated have been subjected to extensive (and completely useless) fact-checking. “People who believe this is phony are simply not well-traveled,” said user Burner, plainly joking. “I’ve been there before. I wasn’t exactly in that place; I was closer to the horizon, right where you can momentarily touch the moon as it passes. Because there is no total eclipse at this time, it’s difficult to determine which perspective is superior.”
However, such jokes were not seen as amusing, and they received several responses reminding them that the Moon does not function that way. Of fact, from wherever on Earth, the Moon seems to be the same. We say something similar because, depending on which hemisphere you are in, you will see it from various perspectives.
According to NASA Science, “everyone observes the same phases of the Moon.” “People living north and south of the equator, on the other hand, observe the Moon’s present phase from different perspectives. The Moon would be in the same phase as it is at home if you traveled to the opposite hemisphere, but it would seem upside down compared to what you’re used to. “For example, the Moon was in a declining crescent phase on March 8, 2021. The fading crescent appeared on the left side of the Moon as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The crescent appeared on the right as viewed from the Southern Hemisphere.”
