Why else would it be dimmer? Think about it. Think about your phone.
TUCSON, AZ — After what he describes as “a full weekend of independent research, plus most of Monday,” local man Kyle Brandt, 34, has concluded that the moon is not a separate celestial body but simply the sun with its display set to light mode.
“Why else would it be dimmer?” Brandt asked, gesturing at a whiteboard covered in drawings of circles. “Why would it come out at night? Think about it. Think about your phone. At night, you change the setting. They’re doing the same thing. It’s literally the same thing.”
Brandt says his research began when he noticed the moon “looked a little washed out” and wondered whether someone had “messed with the contrast.” From there, he watched 41 hours of videos, read three forum posts, and skimmed what he believes was an encyclopedia.
The theory
According to Brandt, a group he refers to as “Big Astronomy” has been hiding the sun’s settings menu from the public since “at least the Romans,” in order to sell telescopes.
“You ever notice there’s never a sun and a moon at the same time?” he said. When told that this happens frequently, Brandt said, “Exactly. That’s when they’re switching it. That’s the loading screen.”
Brandt also believes phases of the moon are “brightness adjustments” and that eclipses happen “when somebody accidentally hits the setting twice.”
The response
Astronomers have responded by saying, in various ways, that the moon is the moon.
“It’s a large rock that orbits the Earth and reflects sunlight,” said one astronomer, who asked not to be named because “the last time I engaged with one of these, someone made a 90-minute video about my haircut.”
Brandt was unmoved. “Of course they’d say that,” he said. “That’s exactly what someone on dark mode would say.”
What’s next
Brandt has launched a podcast, Settings Menu, which will investigate his next theory: that clouds are “just the sky buffering.”
He says the first episode will drop “when the moon goes back to normal mode,” which he believes will be Thursday.