Two Moons & Two Herschels

On August 28, 1789, William Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn: Enceladus. Over four decades later, the New York penny daily The Sun perpetrated the infamous Great Moon Hoax using Herschel’s son’s name to legitimize its science-​fictional “reportage.” The fourth of six installments hit the streets on August 28, 1835, in which “Sir John” tells us of the small, furry human beings with bat-​like wings who (from their gesticulations) seemed to be rational. Eventually Richard Adams Locke confessed to having written the work — as “satire.” Edgar Alan Poe accused Locke of plagiarism while The Sun benefitted, on the whole, with increased circulation.