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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Science & space fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about science & space. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

1,577 published reviews in this topic

El Detector / Univision NoticiasScience & space

Video muestra tres ovnis volando en el cielo de Nevada.

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a video circulated as footage of three unidentified objects flying over Nevada. El Detector’s investigation says the video was posted with captions asserting that it showed UFOs in Nevada, and reports that those posts had accumulated nearly 200,000 views. The review traced the original upload to TikTok user @iceman_fox1 and contacted that user about the footage. The creator said the video was generated using Digital Combat Simulator, a game, and that the original video description disclosed this. The creator also described making several videos a week with random military and science-fiction content. The review notes that the creator’s Instagram profile describes the account as producing realistic DCS videos and says its content is original. This evidence directly addresses whether the circulated images document real objects over Nevada: according to the original uploader, they were digitally created rather than recorded as an actual sighting. El Detector also reports searching for earlier appearances of the same images using reverse-image searches on Google, Yandex, and TinEye, and says those searches found no matching posts predating the uploader’s. That search supports the account of the video’s provenance, while the creator’s explanation and the original description provide the direct evidence for how it was made.

El Detector / Univision NoticiasScience & space

Video muestra la aparición de un ovni en las costas de Galicia (España).

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a viral clip said to show a UFO appearing off the coast of Galicia, Spain. The review describes an 18-second video, supposedly filmed from a small fishing boat, in which two fighter jets pursue an object that then sinks into the sea. It reports that the video was circulating on Instagram with text presenting it as an old “Galician sighting” followed by something new. The investigation identifies the clip instead as a publicity campaign made for the Spanish news portal Terra. [S1: “En el video, grabado supuestamente en la cubierta de un pequeño barco de pesca y de 18 segundos de duración, se observa cómo dos aviones de combate cruzan el cielo persiguiendo a un tercer objeto que se mantiene sostenido en el aire y que, de repente, se hunde en el mar.”] The review explains that a Google search for “galicia ovni avistamiento pesquero” turned up a YouTube upload titled “23-9-2009. El ovni gallego.” Its description credited Películas Pendelton and named Jim-Box and Gonzaga Manso as creators, working for Terra and agency DDB. The review also says it consulted an archived version of DDB Spain’s website. These sources link the footage to an advertising production, rather than establishing that it records an actual sighting. [S1: “La descripción se puede leer: ‘pieza creada por Películas Pendelton y realizada por Jim-Box y Gonzaga Manso para TERRA y la agencia DDB’”] The review further cites statements from people connected to the production: Luis Manso said it was a Terra advertising campaign intended to attract traffic to Terra.es, while director Rodrigo Pineda said the video was not meant to demonstrate that the images were real. The review’s conclusion is that the clip does not show a UFO appearing off Galicia; it was created as advertising. [S1: “Luis Manso, responsable del proyecto, comentó que el video fue una campaña de publicidad de Terra que ‘en su momento quiso hacer algo llamativo y viral para atraer tráfico hacia su portal de noticias Terra.es’.”]

FACTLYScience & space

A rare photo depicting the Earth’s day and night regions

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a specific image shared as a rare photograph of Earth’s sunlit and dark sides over Africa and Europe. FACTLY’s review identifies the image as showing the boundary between day and night, called the terminator, but investigates whether it was actually captured as a single photograph. The review reports that a reverse image search led to a NASA article from 2003 featuring the same image, captioned “A Digital Sunset Over Europe and Africa.” The decisive evidence is the image’s provenance. As quoted in the review, NASA said it was not captured by one spacecraft or an astronaut, but was “a digital composite of archived images taken by several Earth-orbiting satellites and ocean-faring ships.” That directly contradicts presenting the image as a rare, real photograph captured in one moment. The review also says NASA explained that similar images can be generated for locations around Earth using the Earth and Moon Viewer web tool, and that such images help scientists interpret and communicate complex data. The review’s conclusion is therefore about how the image was made: it depicts the day-night boundary, but is a composite assembled from archived imagery, not a single-camera photograph. It does not claim the depicted boundary is fictitious.

FACTLYScience & space

ISRO confirmed that the debris that was found in an Australian beach was third stage of a PSLV rocket that launched the Chandrayaan-3

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerned the large object discovered on Green Head beach in Western Australia on 16 July 2023. It asserted that ISRO had identified it as the third stage of a PSLV that launched Chandrayaan-3. FACTLY’s review says neither ISRO nor the Australian Space Agency (ASA) had confirmed that identification. The ASA said it was making inquiries and coordinating with international counterparts to establish the object’s origin. The review also distinguishes the missions: Chandrayaan-1 used a PSLV, but Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 used the GSLV Mk III (LVM3). Chandrayaan-3 launched on 14 July 2023, shortly before the beach discovery. [S1] The review reports that ISRO Chairman S. Somanath told the BBC the object was part of a rocket, but that it might or might not be Indian. He said its origin could not be definitively confirmed as PSLV or another launch vehicle without visual inspection and analysis. He did confirm that some PSLV parts were known to have fallen into the sea beyond Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone, and said the object might have drifted for an extended period. This does not establish that this particular beach object was a Chandrayaan-3 component. [S1] The review further reports that aviation experts thought the debris could have come from a rocket launched months or years earlier, pointing to extensive barnacle growth. On 19 July 2023, the ASA described it as most likely a solid rocket motor casing, while saying it was still identifying its type and origin. Taken together, the evidence in the review supports a distinction between a possible rocket-related object and a confirmed identification as a PSLV stage from Chandrayaan-3: the latter had not been established. [S1]