Hoax busted: Viral Diwali photos from space and Golden Temple with sky lanterns are fake

Remember the viral photo of India on Diwali night taken from space by NASA in 2012? Now, two more photos have joined the list of fake images. Many were fooled this Diwali after stunning photos of India from space and Golden Temple in Amritsar illuminated with sky lanterns went viral.

India from space on Diwali night

European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli had tweeted a photo of illuminated India from space on October 19 with a caption, "Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, starts today. #HappyDiwali to everyone! #VITAmission."

The photo, which went viral on social media with over 5,000 retweets and around 8,000 likes, shows India and Pakistan and a bright orange light, which, according to NASA, appears to be Pakistan-India international border.

Soon after the image went viral on social media and several people shared it believing it was taken on Diwali eve. But the truth is the photo was not taken on Diwali eve. Nespoli had shared the same photo on his Flickr account on September 29.

Golden Temple illuminated with sky lanterns

Another photo that went viral on social media, especially WhatsApp, was of the Golden Temple taken on Diwali night. The stunning photo shows hundreds of sky lanterns above the Golden Temple.

The photo was shared by several with captions "stunning photo," "No crackers and instead lanterns up in the sky" and "divine" among others. However, social media users soon pointed out that the image is photoshopped.

Navkaran Brar, who is said to be the man behind the fake image, took to Twitter to confirm that the photo was indeed photoshopped.

"Overall work is by me not by someone else & yes it's editing & not real I've created art not made fool of anyone, thnx," Brar tweeted.

The photo was even shared by Amitabh Bachchan, but his followers soon informed him that the image is just another Diwali hoax.