When Neil Armstrong descended on to the surface of the moon 30 years ago, the most striking aspect of the lunar panorama must have been the extreme darkness of the sky.
The moon has no atmosphere, so the scattering of certain wavelengths of sunlight, which gives us here on Earth a bright blue sky, does not take place. The lunar sky is dominated by the giant Earth and the white sun, both shining brilliantly in sharp contrast to their jet-black background.
Neither is there any weather on the moon. Much of its surface is covered in a fine powdery dust, and there is no trace of water to be found. There is no sign of life, but back in the last century many were prepared to believe that lunar life, in quite sophisticated forms, might well exist.
"The Great Moon Hoax" began with an article in a New York newspaper, the Sun, on August 25th, 1835. It was written by Richard Adams Locke under the headline "Great Astronomical Discoveries Lately made by Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope". It went on to inform readers that Herschel had invented a new type of telescope, powerful enough to allow him to examine the surface of the moon in great detail. Over several days, successive articles reported Herschel's "discoveries" in detail.
He had seen "a lofty chain of 30 to 40 obelisk-shaped pyramids", and hordes of Lunar Quadrupeds, "having all the external characteristics of a bison but more diminutive". And also: "We were thrilled with astonishment to perceive successive flocks of large winged creatures, that were like human beings when their wings had disappeared. They averaged four feet in height, their attitude on walking was both correct and dignified, and they were covered, except for the face, with short and glossy copper-coloured hair."
Locke included just enough scientific terminology to make his reports believable. Moreover, Herschel himself really was in southern Africa, and with communications slow, there was little fear of authoritative contradiction.
Sales of the Sun soared for several weeks; the collected articles were published in pamphlet form and sold more than 60,000 copies; the New York Times gravely pronounced the new discoveries "both probable and plausible"; and the New Yorker enthusiastically welcomed "a new era in astronomy and in science generally".
Then, on September 16th, the Sun confessed that it was all a hoax. Some of the more serious astronomers of the day protested loudly at the "unwarrantable and unjustifiable" use of Herschel's name, but what Sir John himself thought about the whole affair, when he found out, we do not know.