A French scientist has apologized after claiming that a photo of a piece of Spanish chorizo was actually from Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.
Sunday, the physicist Etienne Klein tweeted a photo of a round red object on a black background which he says was taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
“This level of detail… A new world is being revealed day by day,” he wrote in the tweet, viewable below.
Less than an hour later, Klein posted another tweet where he suggested his followers beware of “cognitive biases” and noted that “according to contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth.
Hours later, Klein admitted to posting the original photo of the sausage star “as a form of fun,” and tried to turn the prank into a teachable moment, saying, “Let us learn to be wary of arguments from authority.
On Tuesday, Klein posted a photo that was actually taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and promised it was “REAL this time.”
Klein formally apologized for the “scientist joke” on Wednesday and said he simply wanted to urge caution in not believing images that seemed too good to be true.
Many Twitter users begrudgingly admired Klein’s “chorizo star” post.
The Huffington Gt