French scientist Etienne Klein posted on his Twitter a snapshot of the Proxima Centauri disk, allegedly made with the help of James Webb Space Telescope. However, he later admitted that it was only Spanish sausage.
Image of Proxima Centauri?
On July 31, French researcher Etienne Klein posted on Twitter an image of a red disk, excised by lighter lines and spots. The caption under the photo said that this is the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, which is 4.2 light-years away from us.
The image was allegedly obtained using the James Webb Space Telescope. “Such a level of detail… a new world is discovered every day,” he wrote. Readers have confirmed that they are also delighted with the details that were seen with the help of the new space observatory.
However, soon the scientist admitted that what is depicted in the photo is just a circle of a well-known meat product. “Modern cosmology claims that no object consisting of a Spanish sausage exists outside the Earth,” he wrote.
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
Spanish sausage and fake news
According to Klein, he realized that many of his readers took his joke seriously and really believed that it was an image of Proxima Centauri. And it was aimed precisely at teaching people to “beware of the authoritative arguments of persons holding certain positions and the spontaneous eloquence of certain images”.
The scientist apologized for his joke to those people who took it seriously. Meanwhile, many social media users did not pay much attention to Klein’s idea. He soon posted an image of the Cartwheel galaxy. Real ones this time.
According to phys.org
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