The 2026 solar eclipse brought troves of viewers across the path of totality, many equipped with cameras and smartphones – but some viewers walked away with impossible photos that would only happen if the Earth happened to have two moons.
Several failed eclipse photos are making the rounds on the internet, where users snapping photos with a smartphone realized that the phone had "captured" what looks like the moon passing in front of…another moon.
Across Reddit and Twitter, several smartphone photographers have shared photos taken during the eclipse that turn the sun’s orange glow into what looks like the surface of the moon.
The culprit? Several posts – and one comparison between a handful of different smartphones – suggest that the impossible photo of the Moon blocking what looks like another Moon comes from the supermoon mode on the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, suggesting the use of AI-enhanced photography in the supermoon mode.
Foto al eclipse hecha hoy con mi Xiaomi 17 Ultra y un filtro protector de la lente. ¿Notáis algo raro?Pues sí, la luna era la otra. Ha detectado una esfera brillante en el cielo, se ha puesto en modo "superluna", y directamente se ha inventado toda la superficie pic.twitter.com/bwU0GTYTOOAugust 12, 2026
The smartphone’s supermoon mode uses computational photography to enhance photos of the moon. As one user on X described (translated from Spanish), “It detected a bright sphere in the sky, went into 'supermoon' mode, and straight up invented the entire surface.”
While enhancing the surface of the moon may be less obvious under a more typical scenario, photographing the eclipse requires using a protective filter, turning the sun into a dark orange orb. The mishap seems to be one of mistaken identity, misreading the sun as the moon when the moon was a dark shadow. The scenario isn't likely to pop up very often – after all, the 2026 eclipse was the first time mainland Spain has been in the path of totality since 1905.
Thankfully, the mode is something that can be turned off. Another user commented that disabling supermoon mode on the phone fixed the issue and returned the photos to the expected solar eclipse shots.
Me pasó, al desactivare el modo súper luna dejó de poner la luna fake... pic.twitter.com/qbBUqNpG4JAugust 13, 2026
I find the gaff rather humorous, though admittedly it would have been frustrating to experience. After all, why take the time out of a celestial phenomenon that only lasts for a few minutes to take a photo that AI could generate anyway?
The viral posts over the glitch echo a similar controversy from a few years back when Samsung users found that the camera was enhancing the texture of the moon.
As a photographer, the viral posts over the supermoon mode eclipse mishap illustrate why generative AI doesn’t belong inside cameras.
Standard AI already powers excellent camera features like subject detection and autofocus. But generative AI, where a computer is creating something that’s not there, shouldn’t be trusted inside the devices that capture memories.
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Take a look at these telephoto shots that enlarge the eclipse, or NASA's top shots of the 2026 solar eclipse.
