It could have been an April`s fool joke but it was August. A series of
articles published in the New York newspaper the Sun regarding the supposed
discovery of life and civilization on the Moon.
The
discoveries were attributed to Sir John Herschel possibly the best astronomer
of the time and son of Sir William Herschel who had discovered the planet
Uranus in 1781.
Sir John was
observing at the Cape Observatory in South Africa and was completely unaware of
these stories. In the 1830s it took weeks for messages to travel from South
Africa to America by sailing boat.
The stories
told of fantastic animals on the Moon including bison, goats, unicorns and bat
winged humanoids who built temples. There were also oceans, trees and beaches
on the Moon.
These ‘discoveries’
were made using the most massive of telescopes using entirely new scientific
principles. The sales of the newspaper increased due to the stories. Eventually,
the authors said that the observations had been stopped by the destruction of
the telescope.
Apparently
the Sun had caused the lens to act as a "burning glass," setting fire
to the observatory. It would take several weeks before people realised that the
stories were just a great hoax.
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