NASA has explicitly stated that a solar eclipse produces "no unusual impact on Earth's gravity." The agency explained that Earth's gravity is determined by its mass, and the only way for Earth to lose gravity would be for it to lose mass — something a solar eclipse cannot cause. This debunks the viral "Project Anchor" claim that Earth would lose gravity for seven seconds during the August 2026 eclipse.
The claim originated from an unverified Instagram conspiracy post and was amplified across social media. NASA, along with multiple credible outlets including The Economic Times, Times of India, and BGR, all independently confirmed the claim is false. No scientific mechanism exists by which a solar eclipse could trigger a global, seven-second gravitational shutdown.
Eclipses do produce two real but minor gravity-related phenomena: atmospheric gravity waves (ripples in Earth's atmosphere measured by university student teams) and tiny, localized tidal variations in gravitational readings on the order of 0.0000178%. Neither of these constitutes a "loss of gravity" — they are ordinary, well-understood physical effects that pose no risk or disruption.