Planet X637Z-43 is a 2015[1] internet hoax purporting to document the discovery by NASA of a planet covered in cannabis. Supposedly it was one of 715 planets discovered by the Kepler space telescope in 2014.[2] The story originated on a fake news website, NewsWatch28 (also reported as 28 News Watch).[1][2][3]
On October 25, 2019 it was featured in the video of a popular internet personality Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie. In the video, he discusses memes which gained the audience's interest that week, chosen from his subreddit.[4] One of these memes contained Planet X637Z-43, talking about an article made by Huzlers.com. This article has since been taken down. There, they portrayed Planet X637Z-43 to be covered with marijuana (also reported as cannabis). In the meme posted by a reddit user, the purported discovery is discussed in comparison to Elon Musk's striving to explore other planets.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Jha, Nupur (April 17, 2017). "Hilarious hoaxes: Fake news stories that will make you wonder what NASA's been smoking!". International Business Times. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ a b Mikkelson, David (May 28, 2015). "Fact Check: NASA Discovers New Planet Covered with Marijuana". Snopes.com. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
- ^ Ellison, Jake (June 2, 2015). "Grab bag: 'NASA finds marijuana planet'; hunter-gatherers use medical weed; most popular strains". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
- ^ "r/PewdiepieSubmissions". reddit. Retrieved October 26, 2019.