The last solar eclipse of 2019 occurred on 26th December. People in Sri Lanka, India and several other countries witnessed it and shared its photos on social media. This was an annular solar eclipse, which creates a "ring of fire" around sun.
A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, completely blocking the sun's light. In case of annular solar eclipse, the moon does not completely cover the sun as it passes, thus leaving a glowing ring of sunlight around it.
One such image of annular solar eclipse was posted by a Facebook page named Wonder Discovery with a theme of “December 26 Solar eclipse”. Many Facebook users shared the post. The post attributed the credits of the image to a photographer named Thilina Kaluthotage. The screenshot and link of the post is given below.
| Facebook Link | Archived Link |
However, many Facebook users retorted that the image is fake expressing their disbelief. Hence, we decided to verify the veracity of the image.
Fact Check
We carried out a “Google Reverse Image” search for this particular image in Wonder Discovery’s post and came across several posts with the same image. Most of them were shared on Pinterest platform.
We carefully studied all the posts. Almost all of them credited Yoshihiro Sekine for capturing the annular solar eclipse in May 2012 which was visible in Tokyo, Japan.
| Link |
We checked photographer Thilina Kaluthotage’s official Facebook page and his personal Facebook account to find any image similar to circulating image. There was not any image similar to the viral image.
Shown below are the original images captured during solar eclipse by Thilina Kaluthotage courtesy his Facebook profiles.
| Facebook Link | Archived Link |
Conclusion:
Our fact check revealed that the image of the Facebook page Wonder Discovery is an image of annular solar eclipse that occurred in the year 2012 and not the recent annular solar eclipse that occurred on 26th December 2019. The image was captured by Yoshihiro Sekine and not by Thilina Kaluthotage as the post claims. Hence, we conclude that the image shared by Wonder Discovery Facebook page is not of the recent solar eclipse.
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