Earth, moon and sun will align for April 8 eclipse; it's not 'manufactured' | Fact check
The claim: Sun and moon will not be aligned for 2024 eclipse
An April 2 Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a woman claiming the eclipse isn't what scientists say it is.
"People are talking about the eclipse, but they're not talking about this," the woman says. "The sun and the moon are not aligned on April 8."
She later states, "The sun is not where it should be." The video's caption reads, "Is April 8 a manufactured eclipse?"
The video was liked more than 2,000 times in a day.
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Our rating: False
The moon, the Earth and the sun will be briefly aligned on April 8, causing a total solar eclipse. Scientists can predict eclipses based on planetary movements.
Eclipses occur when the Earth, moon and sun line up
A total solar eclipse will pass over the U.S. on the afternoon of April 8, cutting a narrow path across 13 states from Texas to Maine. Millions of people are expected to travel to see the celestial event, which occurs whenever the moon passes directly between the sun and the Earth.
The woman in the Instagram video incorrectly claims the sun and moon won't be aligned that day. But on Earth, all eclipses are the result of such an alignment. An eclipse happens "when the sun, moon and Earth line up," according to NASA.
"Exactly how they align determines what kind of eclipse we see," the agency's website says.
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Scientists can predict the precise timing of eclipses using computer models that show the movements of the Earth and moon around the sun.
"Eclipses are specific configurations of these bodies that can be identified by the computer," NASA's website says. "Current eclipse forecasts are accurate to less than a minute in time over a span of hundreds of years."
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The April 8 eclipse is not "manufactured" or in any way out of the ordinary for an eclipse, as the Instagram post claims.
Eclipses happen at predictable – although relatively lengthy – intervals. NASA has maps of all eclipses, past and future, over a period of 5,000 years ranging from 2,000 B.C. to 3,000 A.D., during which time there will be more than 11,000 eclipses of all types.
The last total solar eclipse occurred Aug. 21, 2017, and the next will happen Aug. 12, 2026, though it will only be visible in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and a small part of Portugal. The next total solar eclipse that will move coast to coast across the lower 48 states will happen in 2045.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
NASA, accessed April 3, Future Eclipses
NASA, accessed April 3, Eclipses: Frequently Asked Questions
NASA, accessed April 3, Why Do Eclipses Happen?
NASA, accessed April 3, 2024 Total Eclipse: Where & When
NASA, accessed April 3, Five Millenium Canon of Solar Eclipses: -1999 to +3000
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Moon will pass directly between Earth and sun April 8 | Fact check