Millions of people saw the April 8 total solar eclipse that raced across North America as a chance to view a rare celestial event that won’t be visible again in the continental U.S. for two decades.
One social media user, however, saw a broader purpose.
“I don’t know who planned this. But this was a brilliant wake up strategy,” an April 8 Facebook post’s caption said. It continued, “And this will be the first time so many look up and realize what chemtraiIs are. The main path so far is full of ChemtraiIs. It’s all over tiktok. People are PISSED.”
The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The post shared a photo of white streaks across a sunlit sky — presumably the evidence of chemtrails — but it doesn’t say where or when it was taken.
But the photo doesn’t show chemtrails. We know that because they don’t exist.
(Facebook screenshot)
As PolitiFact has reported numerous times, chemtrails are a conspiracy theory that the condensation trails left behind aircraft are part of a secret program by the government or others to poison the atmosphere with toxic chemicals for various, nefarious reasons.
PolitiFact has also debunked numerous social media claims about the solar eclipse, including claims that NASA was shooting rockets at three moons and that state and local governments were preparing for a catastrophic event that day.
The conspiracy theory about chemtrails was amplified recently when the Tennessee Senate passed a bill prohibiting the release of chemicals into the state’s atmosphere to affect the weather, a concept known as geoengineering. The bill didn’t mention chemtrails, but some lawmakers and witnesses referred directly or indirectly to them, PolitiFact reported. The Washington Post reported that many chemtrail believers are confusing the theory with geoengineering.
Multiple government agencies and scientists say chemtrails don’t exist. Contrails — shorthand for condensation trails, the white streaks seen in the Facebook photo and routinely seen in the sky — do exist and are harmless.
The National Weather Service said the condensation trails left behind by passing jets form when hot, humid air from the jet exhaust mixes with cooler atmospheric air. Contrails are not a recent phenomenon and have been visible since the existence of jet planes, the agency said.
The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also said contrails pose no threat to humans’ health.
It’s possible the Facebook post creator saw an increase in contrails during the eclipse because there was increased air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration was expecting a busy week because of spring break travel and the eclipse, the agency said in a March 27 news release.
“Travelers flying along the eclipse path may encounter limited parking and potential delays at airports due to the high volume of aircraft and drones attempting to witness the total solar eclipse,” the FAA said.
CNBC reported that high demand from tourists flocking to the path of totality jammed smaller airports, briefly causing the FAA to briefly halt some flights ahead of the event. Delta Airlines sold two special eclipse viewing flights, and several large airlines had flights that coincided with the path of totality.
Kelly Korreck, NASA’s program manager for the solar eclipse, speculated that more contrails might have been visible because the eclipse’s path crossed several major cities and airports, a spokesperson told PolitiFact. In addition, Korreck said, people were looking up at the sky more frequently than usual and noticing them.
NASA, meanwhile, sent three WB-57 jet planes with scientific instruments to take measurements along the eclipse’s path.
Whatever the creator of the Facebook post and others saw in the sky during the solar eclipse weren’t chemtrails. They don’t exist, and the claim is Pants on Fire!