Rumors about a supposed celestial event that will cover the world in darkness for 15 days this month have been making the rounds on the Internet, causing widespread fear and anxiety in many observers online.
In July, a fake news site called Newswatch 33 published an article regarding a space occurrence known as "November Black Out" in which a conjunction between the planets Jupiter and Venus will allegedly trigger a massive explosion on the sun.
This in turn will cause the Earth to be plunged into complete darkness that will last for 15 days beginning on Nov. 15 and ending on Nov. 30.
The author of the news article claimed that U.S. President Barack Obama has been briefed by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about the impending celestial event through a 1,000-page report.
Despite the potentially catastrophic details mentioned in the report, the Newswatch 33 writer said Bolden does not believe the space blackout will cause any major problems on Earth.
"This event will be similar to what Alaskans experience in the winter," the NASA administrator supposedly said.
"The only other effect it will have is everyone will get to have a true Black Friday after Thanksgiving."
The website even came out with a hashtag for the event - #NovemberBlackOut - that people can use to tweet what they plan to do during the 15-day blackout.
Snopes.com, a website dedicated to exposing the truth behind Internet rumors and hoaxes, revealed that the story behind the Newswatch 33 report was merely a rehash of an earlier erroneous report that had already become viral several times before.
Snopes said that while Charles Bolden is indeed a real official at NASA, Newswatch 33 is not an authentic news website that started to gain infamy in social media networks following the closure of another fake news site named NewsWatch 28.
Aside from the November Black Out report, other false claims made by Newswatch 33 include celebrity couple Beyonce and Jay-Z purchasing the rights to the Confederate flag, federal agents implanting listening devices in cigars and a girl having been electrocuted after using the earbuds of her iPhone.
