Claim:
A post going viral on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show a photo of the moon aligning with planets during the ongoing 2025 Prayagraj Maha Kumbh. It states that Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent moon were visible before sunrise. The post further claims that on 29 January, for the first time in 144 years, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon aligned with the Pushya Nakshatra, linking it to Indian astronomy and astrology. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.
The archived post can be found here.
Investigation:
To verify the viral post, we conducted a Google Lens search, which led to a three-year-old Reddit post (archived) featuring the same photo. The post claimed it showed Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent moon just before sunrise on 28 April 2022 in Perth, Western Australia. The photo is credited to Ren Theelen and the Cosmic Intelligence Agency.
Taking clues from the post, we used relevant keywords and found the same photo (archived) on the Facebook account of Cosmic Intelligence Agency, uploaded on 1 May 2022. The caption stated that the photo was taken in Perth, Australia, showing Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the waning crescent moon just before sunrise on 28 April 2022. The image was credited to Ren Theelen.
We found Ren Theelen’s Instagram account, where the original photo (archived) was posted on 28 April 2022, with the location mentioned as Drakesbrook Weir, Australia.
To verify the claim that Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, and the Moon aligned in a row for the first time in 144 years on 29 January 2025, we searched online and found that on this date, a rare planetary alignment occurred (here, here and here), known as a planetary parade. It featured Saturn, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and the crescent Moon, all visible just before sunrise.
According to NASA, Planetary alignments may be visually striking but they are not exceedingly rare. Planets often appear to align along the ecliptic plane due to their orbital paths around the Sun. Such alignments, involving multiple planets, occur periodically and are not unique to specific years. A similar event took place in January 2016, when Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn aligned. This happened because the planets were on the same side of the Sun, creating the appearance of a line across the sky. It was the first such alignment since 2005.
To sum up, an April 2022 photo from Australia of a celestial alignment is falsely shared as one taken during the 2025 Prayagraj Maha Kumbh.
Conclusion: 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. Hence, the claim made in the post is false.
The fact-check story was originally published by Factly and has been republished by Lighthouse Journalism as a part of Shakti Collective.
