Physicist Apologizes for Fooling Public Into Thinking a Picture of Chorizo Was a Star

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On July 31, 2015, Etienne Klein, a prominent French physicist, shared a photo of Proxima Centauri, one of the Sun's closest neighbors.

He mentioned in the post that the image was taken by a telescope. A new world is revealed on a daily basis.

The problem was that it wasn't Proxima Centauri.

This magnificent, planetary orb is just a slice of Spanish chorizo.

Klein had to make a public apology for causing confusion with his post.

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

There is a post by Etienne KLEIN on July 31,2022.

Field Day

Klein continued to play off the prank on his followers.

He said that cognitive biases seem to have a field day when it's time for the aperitif. There is no Spanish charcuterie object on Earth.

Choriz-no

It was clear that Etienne didn't mean to cause any trouble. As he is a major figure in the scientific community, a lot of people took his hoax at face value, which resulted in a lot of confusion.

The physicist said that the alleged snapshot of Proxima Centauri was a form of amusement.

Each new image captured by the next-gen telescope is more captivating than the last one.

We can't blame people for not paying attention to the context clues.

There is a lesson to be learned according to Etienne.

He said that we should learn to be cautious of arguments from authority.

A glimpse of the most distant star in the universe was caught by James Webb.