With its fascinating pictures of far-flung galaxies, it’s secure to say the James Webb Space Telescope has captured the creativeness of the world over. It was additionally not too long ago the topic of a not-so-charming prank. On July thirty first, Étienne Klein, the director of France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, shared a picture he claimed the JWST captured of Proxima Centauri, the nearest-known star to the solar.
“It was taken by the James Webb Space Telescope,” Klein advised his greater than 91,000 Twitter followers. “This degree of element… A brand new world is unveiled each day.” Thousands of individuals took the publish at face worth and retweeted it with out remark.
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
A couple of days later, Klein admitted that what he shared was really a photograph of a slice of chorizo in opposition to a black background. “In view of sure feedback, I really feel obliged to specify that this tweet exhibiting an alleged image of Proxima Centauri was a joke,” Klein mentioned. “Let’s be taught to be cautious of the arguments from positions of authority as a lot because the spontaneous eloquence of sure pictures.”
Klein subsequently apologized for the prank and advised French information outlet Le Point (by way of Vice) he posted the picture to teach the general public about the specter of faux information. “I also think that if I hadn’t said it was a James Webb photo, it wouldn’t have been so successful,” he famous. After the whole lot was mentioned and finished, Klein shared the current picture the JWST captured of the Cartwheel galaxy. This time he was fast to guarantee his followers that the photograph was genuine.
