In case you haven’t heard, the world will be plunged into darkness for 15 days in November, all thanks to rare phenomenon caused by the movement of Venus and Jupiter.
But before you start worrying about what this once-in-a-million event will do to your light bill, just know this: it’s not true.
Many have reported the Earth will experience 15 days of total darkness between Nov. 15-29. The world, the reports said, will stay dark from Nov. 15 at 3 a.m. (no word if this is Central, Standard or any other time) and will end Nov. 30, 4:45 p.m. The article, which contains official-looking maps, charts and other documents, said President Obama has received a 1,000 page document about the coming phenomenon from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
The reason for the blackout, the sites claim, is what’s described as “close parallelism” between Venus and Jupiter that will cause Venus to shine brighter with that light heating up Jupiter. This reaction will release hydrogen in to the atmosphere, causing a massive explosion on the sun. The sun will react to the outburst by attempting to cool itself down and will turn blue as a result.
Next thing you know, we will all be in the dark for two weeks.
The stories go on to say Bolden doesn’t think the Earth will experience any major issues during the blackout.
“This event will be similar to what Alaskans experience in the winter,” Bolden supposedly said. “The only other effect it will have it everyone will get to have a true Black Friday after Thanksgiving.”
There’s even a hashtag – #NovemberBlackOut – where people can discuss what they are going to do during the days of darkness.
The whole thing is bunk, of course.
The blackout rumors first surfaced in 2012 and were connected to interest in the Mayan calendar.
“Neither NASA nor any other scientific organization is predicting such a blackout,” he said. “The false reports on this issue claim that some sort of “alignment of the Universe” will cause a blackout. There is no such alignment.”
The rumor surfaced again earlier this year.
This time Snopes, the website that reports on the validity of rumors and urban legends, weighed in.
“No, the universe is not about to realign in June 2015, nor will there be a multi-day blackout at that time during which the Earth will shift into a new dimension. Neither NASA nor any other credible scientific entity has made such a pronouncement. Ever,” the website said.
Whew. Let the sunshine in.
