The picture shows a fiery red ball with bright spots shining against a pitch black background.
A French scientist who tweeted a photo of a slice of chorizo and claimed it was an image of a distant star obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope has apologised.
The image of the spicy Spanish sausage was shared by renowned French physicist Etienne Klein on Twitter on July 31, claiming to be the latest image captured by NASA’s James Webb Telescope. Mr. Klein is director of France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.
Photo of Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la closest to the Sun, situate à 4.2 année-lumière de nous.Elle a été prize par le JWST.Ce nivelo de détails… Un nouveau monde se vouille jour après jour. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z
— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022
While sharing the image, he wrote: “A picture of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years away. It is made by JWST. This level of detail… A new world is revealed day after day.”
The image that has gone viral on social media resembles a fiery red ball with bright spots that shine in a terrifying manner against a pitch-black background. Mr. Klien has more than 93,000 followers.
The post received more than 15,000 likes and over 2,000 retweets. Some Twitter users did not fall for the scientist’s joke and flooded the comments section with remarks.
“Stop lying to us! It’s a piece of chorizo! I love the conspiracy… Suuuuper,” wrote a user.
Another said: “The Flat Earthers will develop a new theory. The stars are actually the chorizo.”
Mr. Klien later admitted that the image was indeed of a sausage. “Well, when it’s time for an aperitif, cognitive biases seem to come into play… So watch out for them. According to modern cosmology, not a single object belonging to the Spanish sausages exists anywhere else but on Earth.’
“In light of some of the comments, I feel obliged to clarify that this tweet showing an alleged snapshot of Proxima Centauri is a form of entertainment. Let us learn to be wary of both the arguments of authority and the spontaneous eloquence of certain images,” he added.
Later on Thursday, the scientist took to Twitter to write an apology. “I come to offer my apologies to those whom my fraud, in which there was nothing original, may have shocked.”
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