WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Mercury, Venus and Saturn aligned above Giza’s pyramids on November 19, 2024.
OUR VERDICT
False. The planets did not align over the pyramids on that date.
AAP FACTCHECK – Social media users are falsely claiming three planets recently aligned above Egypt's Pyramids of Giza in an exceedingly rare event, but versions of the claim have been orbiting online for more than a decade.
Posts have circulated widely on social media, including one on Facebook from November 19, 2024, which is captioned: "Tonight we have a rare astronomical event that happens once every 2373 years. at 19:05 pm Mercury , Venus and Saturn will correlate with the Pyramids of Giza in Kemet."
It includes an image showing three bright stars aligning above three pyramids, with overlaid text repeating the claim.
Alongside is an image showing the three planets aligning in the west near the horizon, which appears to be from Stellarium, a program that simulates the position of planets and stars at certain times and dates.
However, the image has been digitally altered and simulations show the planets didn't align at that time and date as claimed.
A reverse image search reveals the image of the three pyramids first appeared online in 2008 without any stars, which seem to have been added in a 2011 blog post and circulated widely thereafter.
In the blog, someone called Charles Marcello used Stellarium to claim that Mercury, Venus and Saturn would align vertically above Giza's three pyramids on December 3, 2012, although not necessarily in the manner shown in the altered image.
Mr Marcello also claimed this alignment occurred every 2737 years, not 2373 years as in recent posts.
He suggested the pyramids were built based on this rare planetary alignment, and made a tenuous link with the conspiracy theory that the world would end in December 2012 at the supposed conclusion of the Mayan calendar cycle.
Stellarium does show the three planets aligned near the horizon to the south-east at Giza on December 3, 2012, at about 5.30am, although not as neatly as shown in the image.