Fact check: Image shows meteorite above India in 2015
The claim: An image shows an asteroid over India in December
A series of three asteroids flew past Earth from Nov. 29 to Dec. 17. A dramatic image circulating on social media claims to show one of those asteroids above India.
"This is that asteroid that just missed earth about a day ago, in the skies over India," reads the text of a Facebook post shared Dec. 13.
The post generated more than 2,000 shares in less than a week. But the claim is false.
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The image shows a green meteorite, not an asteroid, and it was taken six years ago.
Paste BN reached out to the Facebook user who shared the claim for comment.
Image shows green meteorite
India-based photographer Prasenjeet Yadav told Paste BN in an email that he took the image in the Facebook post in 2015. It shows a green meteorite, which appeared "above the sky islands of (the) Western Ghats mountains" in southwest India, according to National Geographic.
Sky islands are "the tops of tall mountains that become environmentally isolated from each other," the magazine reported in August 2017. These islands are "separated by air rather than water."
Yadav received a National Geographic Young Explorers grant to capture images of these islands, according to Wired. He set up a time-lapse in the mountains that took pictures every 10 seconds.
The green meteorite was in one of his shots.
"Scientists estimate that about 48.5 tons of meteoritic material falls on the Earth each day," NASA says on its website. A meteor's color "depends on its chemical composition" and how it interacts with the Earth's atmosphere, according to AccuWeather.
Capturing meteors on camera can be difficult because they're unannounced and travel at great speeds, according to NASA.
"This is definitely one of the most memorable shots I have ever taken," Yadav wrote in an Instagram post in 2019.
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The image is six years older than the Facebook post claims. It also doesn't show an asteroid.
An asteroid is a "rocky object that orbits the Sun," according to NASA. Pieces of an asteroid can break off from collisions, which are called meteoroids.
When meteoroids are near the Earth's atmosphere, they can vaporize and become meteors. Whereas asteroids resemble stars in the sky that can be seen through a telescope, meteors come in flashes of color.
The picture has no connection to the asteroids that passed by Earth in 2021 – including one on Dec. 11, two days before this post was shared.
Asteroid 4660 Nereus, 20 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower and classified by NASA as "potentially hazardous," flew past Earth that day. It was estimated to be more than 2 million miles away, according to NASA.
Paste BN reached out to NASA for comment.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that an image shows an asteroid over India in December. The picture shows a meteorite that was photographed in 2015. It has no connection to asteroids that passed by Earth in 2021.
Our fact-check sources:
- Check Your Fact, Dec. 15, FACT CHECK: DOES THIS PHOTO SHOW AN ASTEROID THAT PASSED BY EARTH THIS MONTH?
- National Geographic, Oct. 30, 2019, 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Winners
- Wired, January 24, 2017, A Brilliant Green Meteor Lights Up India’s ‘Sky Islands'
- Prasanjeet Yadav, accessed Dec. 17, About
- Prasanjeet Yadav, Feb. 20, 2019, Instagram post
- Paste BN, Nov. 29, Football field-sized asteroid to approach Earth on Monday night, one of several in the coming weeks
- Paste BN, Dec. 9, A huge asteroid is about to fly past Earth. If you caught it, you'd be $4.7 billion richer
- Prasanjeet Yadav, Dec.16-18, Email exchange with Paste BN
- National Geographic, Aug. 11, 2017, Breathtaking ‘Sky Islands’ Showcase Evolution in Action
- NASA, accessed Dec. 21, Asteroid or Meteor: What's the Difference?
- The Spaceguard Centre, accessed Dec. 21, Finding and Observing Asteroids
- AccuWeather, accessed Dec. 21, Why do meteors glow in vibrant colors?
- NASA, May 6, What’s the difference between a meteor, meteoroid, and meteorite?
- NASA, Nov. 13, 2018, How to Photograph a Meteor Shower
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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.