"[T]he New York Sun dropped a bombshell of a story: Astronomer Sir John Herschel had erected an enormous telescope in South Africa that could magnify celestial bodies an astounding 42,000 times. And when he pointed it at the moon he saw a field of poppies."

In case anyone would like to read more about this fantastical hoax, I highly recommend Matthew Goodman's excellent book about 19th century newspaper hoaxes, The Sun and the Moon. It's a pretty fun book that tackles topics that range from the relationship between religion and science in pre-Civil War America, through to the relationship between P.T. Barnum and Edgar Allan Poe, and the rise of cheap newspapers targeted to the mass public (perhaps the antecedents of Buzzfeed, etc.) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0023RSZPA