Can a distant star be confused with a piece of chorizo? Well, at least when French physicist Étienne Klein is on the move, Vice writes.
When the French physicist and head of research Etienne Klein He posted a photo of the unique star Proxima Centauri on Twitter, and it quickly went viral and thousands of followers retweeted it.
Little did they know then that the image of the distant star was actually an image of something as ordinary as a slice of chorizo.
The star closest to the sun
Last week, Klein, an employee at France’s Commission on Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy, posted the photo on social media and wrote that it depicted Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun.
He also claimed that the image was called a James Webb image taken with an advanced telescope.
Actually chorizo
Only a few days later, he regretted his move and had to admit that the image of the star had not been taken with one of the most powerful telescopes in the world, let alone represented by Proxima Centauri, but unfortunately just a piece of meat.
For the French news agency Le Point, Klein later said that his intention was never to mislead anyone, but rather to teach people to review the news critically, Vice writes.
Thus, not all of them are stars, even if they look twinkling.
Read also: Earth’s magnetic field is rapidly weakening [Dagens PS]
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