This is NOT an image of the Earth taken by Chandrayan 3 from the Lunar surface! Know the truth. 

On 23 August, Chandrayan 3 landed on the surface of the moon. Soon after, it started sending images back to the Earth. Many social media users are sharing images of the Earth and moon, claiming them to be captured by Chandrayan 3. 

One such image is now circulating on various social media platforms. However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. This is an edited image in which the earth is shown flat. The original image was captured in 1968 by NASA’s Apollo 8.

Social Media Posts:

It was claimed that the below image, purportedly showing the Earth, was captured by Chandrayan 3 after landing on the moon. 

Facebook | Archive

The same post was shared by many verified Twitter accounts which you can see here and here

Fact Check

First, we tried to find out where this image started getting viral. We found that this image was posted on the 9GAG website on 19 August. This image was satirically posted to mock those people who believe that the earth is flat. The post titled "The earth from the Moon According to Idiots" can be seen here.

A Google Reverse Image Search on the viral image led us to a similar image published on Time’s website. But in this image, the shape of the earth is round and not flat, and the particular image was published on 30 July 2021. 

According to the report, this image was captured from space during the Apollo 8 mission. In the year 1968, in the Apollo 8 mission, humans were sent to space for the first time. Astronauts who were on this mission took this image of the Earth rising from behind the moon.

A Google keyword search led us to a video uploaded on NASA’s YouTube Channel. In this video, we found the same visual at 3.55 minutes. This video was uploaded on 11 December 2018, telling the Apollo 8 mission story. 

The description of the video reads, “50 years ago, three NASA astronauts embarked on a journey that would take them “Round the moon and back”. The Apollo 8 mission proved the performance of the command and service module. This historic mission launched on December 21, 1968 to demonstrate a lunar trajectory and was the first manned launch of the Saturn V rocket. On Christmas Eve, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were the first humans to orbit the Moon and the first to see an Earthrise above its surface.”

Below you will find the similarities between the viral image and the image taken from NASA’s YouTube Channel. 

Conclusion: 

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. The real image was captured during NASA’s Apollo 8 mission in 1968. This is not an image taken by Chandrayan 3. The viral image was edited, and the image of the Earth was distorted. In the real image, the shape of the earth is round.