The spectacular viral space photograph of India on Diwali is sadly a hoax

Among the many traditions in Diwali, circulating a fake image of India on Diwali from the space shouldn’t be one.

Since the last few years, Netizens have been circulating an image during Diwali every year that is supposedly an image captured by one of the NASA satellites. The same picture was found being retweeted on Twitter again this year.

Though the image is one of the most spectacular pictures of India, sadly it is still not even a real photograph. A 2012 report by Mashable says that the image is a “composite of satellite photos of India created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2003.”

Here it is lads, i know you all have been waiting for, NASA releases India's satellite image on Diwali night pic.twitter.com/9YLcPyZPSj
— game of thrones loki (@LokibyHeart) October 30, 2016

Happy Diwali!! India's festival of light and New year.
Picture of India as shot from space by NASA on Diwali night http://t.co/h3lnFlYn
— Kama Indian Bistro (@KamaBistro) October 26, 2011

I think it's that time of the year, when a picture of India's map brightly lit takes rounds on social media platforms, with a caption: India from space on Diwali.#Diwali2019
— Vadapalli Nithin (@nithin_v17) October 22, 2019

Teacher : Why do we celebrate Diwali?
90's kid: Lord Ram came back home on this day.
Upcoming generation : Nasa release India's space picture on Diwali every year.@NASA @isro
Desperately waiting for image... 😅 Screenshot attached. pic.twitter.com/aZAU2mPrqa
— Anmol Gupta (@GuptaAnmol60) October 27, 2019