“A photo shows Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon aligning in a row for the first time in 144 years during the 2025 Prayagraj Maha Kumbh.”
What FACTLY found
The viral photo was taken on 28 April 2022 in Perth, Australia, by photographer Ren Theelen. It shows Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the waning crescent Moon before sunrise. Although a planetary alignment also occurred on 29 January 2025, featuring similar celestial bodies, known as a planetary parade, such alignments are not rare and occur periodically. A similar event happened in January 2016. The viral photo is unrelated to the 2025 Prayagraj Maha Kumbh and was not taken in Prayagraj.
Their words, from the summary they publish with the rating.
In short
This claim spread on social media around 17 February 2025. FACTLY (India) looked into it and published its finding on 19 February 2025, 2 days later. Its rating was “FALSE”.
Where the claim appeared
- Facebook posthttps://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02uAk4TkFtq25HRmF5n3EJoiFETFEpBUZo…
Links recorded by FACTLY. Some posts may have been deleted since.
This check was done by FACTLY, not by DoesItStand. We list it so you can find it. Their full evidence and reasoning are in their article.