NASA published an Astronomy Picture of the Day entry titled “Chasing the Moon’s Shadow” on September 5, 2026.
Claim reviewed: NASA published an Astronomy Picture of the Day entry titled “Chasing the Moon’s Shadow” on September 5, 2026.
NASA’s official APOD archive lists “Chasing the Moon’s Shadow” for September 5, 2026, and the corresponding APOD page gives the same title and date context.
Verdict: True
Key evidence
- NASA’s official Astronomy Picture of the Day archive lists “Chasing the Moon’s Shadow” under September 5,
- The corresponding NASA APOD page identifies the entry and explains that the photograph was taken during an August 12 total solar eclipse near Iceland.
- NASA’s calendar and index, along with two contemporaneous third-party reproductions, are consistent with the September 5 listing.
Detailed analysis
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day archive records “Chasing the Moon’s Shadow” as the entry for September 5, 2026. This directly supports the claim that NASA published an Astronomy Picture of the Day entry with that title on that date. The individual NASA APOD page describes the entry as showing NASA’s WB-57F research aircraft pursuing the shadow of a New Moon during a total solar eclipse observed off Iceland on August 12. That description is consistent with the archive listing, although the image’s capture date is different from the publication date asserted in the claim. NASA’s APOD calendar and index provide additional official context for the dated sequence of entries around September 5, while two third-party pages also reproduce the September 5 title and explanation. The official archive and APOD page are the decisive evidence because the claim concerns what NASA published. (SOURCES_2, 3, 9, 10)
Sources
- Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive - NASA
- Astronomy Picture of the Day Calendar - NASA Science
- Astronomy Picture of the Day Index - NASA Science
- Astronomy Picture of the Day - NASA
- Image of the Day - NASA
- Astronomy Picture of the Day
- APOD: 2026 September 1 - A Plane Lunar Eclipse - NASA Science
- All NASA News - NASA