Celebrated physicist and French scientist, Étienne Klein has apologised after tweeting a photo of a slice of chorizo, claiming it was an image of a distant star taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
He tweeted "Picture of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years away from us. It was taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. This level of detail... A new world is unveiled everyday," he told his 91,000 followers.
Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4,2 année-lumière de nous.
— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022
Elle a été prise par le JWST.
Ce niveau de détails… Un nouveau monde se dévoile jour après jour. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z
The post was retweeted and commented upon by thousands of users, who took the scientist by his word.
Things, however, were not quite as they seemed.
Klein admitted later in a series of follow-up tweets that the image was, in fact, a close-up of a slice of chorizo taken against a black background.
On Wednesday, Klein apologized for the hoax, saying his intention was "to urge caution regarding images that seem to speak for themselves."
In a bid to make amends, he posted an image of the spectacular Cartwheel galaxy, assuring followers that this time the photo was genuine.
The James Webb telescope is the most powerful ever launched into space, it officially began scientific operations on July 12.
Source: BBC
