A physicist thrilled Twitter fans this week with a stunning new photo from the James Webb Space Telescope, then surprised everyone by admitting it was just a piece of delicious chorizo.
Scientist Etienne Klein, director of France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, shared the purported photo of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on July 31. The photo shows a round reddish-orange object on a black background that looks like a star view.
“Image of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years away. It was made by JWST,” Klein wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab), according to Google Translate. “This level of detail… A new world is revealed day by day.”
Gallery: The first pictures of the James Webb Space Telescope
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 July 31, 2022
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Klein’s photo went viral, garnering 19,000 likes and more than 3,000 retweets, prompting the scientist to clarify that the image was not from the famed James Webb Space Telescope, whose first science images were released by NASA in July. Instead it was a piece of Spanish chorizo sausage.
“Well, when it’s aperitif time, cognitive biases seem to have field days…” Klein added in a follow-up tweet (opens in new tab). “According to modern cosmology, not a single object belonging to the Spanish sausages exists anywhere else but on Earth.”
Klein’s tweets apparently drew some angry comments from JWST fans, prompting the scientist to clarify that it was meant for good fun.
“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,” he wrote (opens in new tab). “Let us learn to beware both of arguments from authority and the spontaneous eloquence of certain images.”
It’s no surprise that Klein’s purported portrayal of JWST won such a wide audience. In July, NASA released the first science images from the new space observatory — the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built by mankind — and new images have been coming ever since.
NASA launched the $10 billion JWST in December 2021 on a mission to see the first stars and galaxies in our universe. So far, images from JWST have revealed a surprising supernova, the most distant star we’ve ever seen (it’s called Earendel), a stunning view of the Cartwheel galaxy, a dizzying Phantom galaxy, and the deepest view of the universe we’ve ever seen.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in new tab) or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Fa (opens in new tab) cebook and Instagram (opens in new tab).
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