Green moon: Sky won’t be lit by a bright green orb tonight even though it is 420

The collision of a bright green moon and a day that celebrates smoking cannabis seems too good to be true – and it is

The moon is observed through a telescope by Sunni Muslims to establish the start of Ramadan (Getty Images)

The moon isn’t going to turn green on a day that celebrates smoking cannabis – but that hasn’t stopped tens of thousands of people thinking that it is.

An online hoax is spreading across the internet that claims that the moon is about to be lit up with bright green, either on 20 April or on 29 May.

Because of the arrangement of the moon, the Earth and Uranus, the green-tinge of the latter planet will reflect onto our own lunar satellite, according to posts sharing the story. The green light will last for about 90 minutes.

It will be the first time that the phenomenon has been seen since 1596, 420 years ago.

But the story appears to be entirely fake, being spread around to mark the 20 April weed smoking holiday and playing on people’s excitement about unusual phenomena in the sky.

The green moon is just the latest in a series of astronomical hoaxes and conspiracy theories, which have also included a day when gravity will be relaxed and numerous asteroids that are about to wipe out life on Earth. The posts often implore their readers to share them to ensure that people know about the event – and many on social networks do, with just one post about the green moon already netting over 38,000 shares.