A French scientist is apologizing after admitting that he shared a fake image of a star that was actually a piece of chorizo.
Étienne Klein, a physicist at France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission shared a photo on Twitter of what he said was the star Proxima Centauri.
Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4,2 année-lumière de nous.
Elle a été prise par le JWST.
Ce niveau de détails… Un nouveau monde se dévoile jour après jour. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022
Klein claimed the image had been taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
That device was launched into Earth’s orbit late last year, after construction that cost more than $10 billion, according to NPR.
The star is the closest star to Earth’s sun. But the reality behind the photo Klein shared isn’t light-years away from the human eye.
To the casual viewer, it looks like Klein could be sharing a photo of the star.
Is this irresponsible?
However, some of his followers questioned the veracity of a purported space photo that looked almost like a piece of pepperoni.
Klein raised some questions about his own tweet when he responded to the image with a reference to “Spanish charcuterie” existing only on Earth.
Bon, quand sonne l’heure de l’apéritif, les biais cognitifs semblent s’en donner à cœur joie… Gare, donc, à eux. Selon la cosmologie contemporaine, nul objet relevant de la charcuterie espagnole n’existe ailleurs que sur Terre.
— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022
Klein later clarified that the ground-breaking photo was nothing but a slice of chorizo.
The scientist finally issued an apology for the “hoax” on Wednesday, claiming he had staged the prank to prove a point about similar cases of fraud.
Je viens présenter mes excuses à ceux que mon canular, qui n’avait rien d’original, a pu choquer. Il voulait simplement inciter à la prudence vis-à-vis des images qui semblent éloquentes par elles-mêmes.
La blague d’un scientifique https://t.co/wHiJWxscxq #Astronomie via @LePoint— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) August 3, 2022
Klein went on to distinguish between what he called a hoax and fake news in a subsequent tweet.
Pardon, Madame, mais un canular n’est pas une fake-news, puisqu’il finit toujours par se dénoncer lui-même. Ou alors, pour vous faire plaisir, je dirais que c’est une fake-news provisoire qui vise à dénoncer les fake-news durables.
— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) August 5, 2022
The real Proxima Centauri is further away than anything you’ll find in a food truck.
It’s around 4.2 light years away from the sun, according to National Geographic — although that’s close enough to earn it the place of the sun’s closest neighbor.
