No, that's not a picture of a double sunset on Mars

So Curiosity's been on the Martian surface for a week, and we're already seeing faked images touted as being real. The other day it was a more-or-less honest mistake of people spreading around a computer-generated view from Mars - originally meant just to show what the skyline looked like from there - thinking it was real.

Now though, we have what's clearly an actual fake. Here's the shot, getting passed around on various Tumblrs:

Now, I'll note it's not crazy to think this shot might be real; the Sun is very bright and in many cameras you can get reflections inside the optics, causing this double-Sun effect. It happens all the time. So you wouldn't really be seeing two suns setting - just one real one and one that's an internal reflection.

But that's not what's going on here, as I knew right away. That's because I'm familiar with this picture:

That shot is also of the sunset, but it really is from Mars! It was taken by the Spirit rover in May 2005, a spectacular shot of the Sun setting over the Martian landscape.

And that's where you'll find the proof of double-sunset-fakery. Compare the double-sunset picture with the real one from Spirit, and you'll see the profile of the landscape on the horizon is exactly the same. Clearly, the double-sunset pic was faked, adding in the second Sun. In fact, you can see that both images of the "Sun" in the double sunset picture don't match the real one. In other words, both images of the Sun were faked.

Also, I couldn't help but think the faked Sun images looked kinda familiar to me as well. Recognize them? Perhaps the picture here will help place them. Clearly, the faker must have come from some wretched hive of scum and villainy.

It may be this picture was created as a joke and got out into the wild, or maybe it was done on purpose to fool people. As usual with things like this, tracing it back to the original is a bit tough (though the Martian skyline picture from earlier was able to be pedigreed). I've seen it on several sites now, and I've gotten email and tweets about it. It was easy to debunk, so why not?

I don't know if this image will go viral like the previous unreal one did; this is so obviously hoaxed that it may not have the same sort of traction. Still, it sometimes helps to get ahead of the curve here, and dowse these things with reality before they spread out of hand.

So if you see someone posting that image, send 'em here. That way, we will crush the hoaxers with one swift stroke.

Image Credits: Mars sunset: NASA/JPL/Texas A&M/Cornell; Tatooine: Uncle Owen's Wedding Photography Service (now defunct).

Related Posts:

- An unreal Mars skyline
- Gallery: Curiosity's triumphant first week on Mars
- Astronomers discover a wretched hive of scum and villainy
- Hoagland = lose