French scientist Étienne Klein tweeted a photo of a slice of chorizo against a black background and commented: “Photo of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, 4.2 light-years from us. It was recorded by the JWST [James Webb Space Telescope]. That level of detail… a new world is revealed every day.”
Many people believed Klein because he is the research director at the Atomic Energy Commission. Klien soon cleared up the confusion.
From HuffPost France (machine-translated);
“According to contemporary cosmology, no object related to Spanish cured meats exists anywhere other than on Earth,” he wrote, before adding, “I feel obliged to clarify that this tweet, which allegedly contained a snapshot of Proxima du Centaur shows was a form of amusement. Let us learn to distrust arguments from authority as well as the spontaneous eloquence of certain images…”
Contacted by The HuffPost, Etienne Klein explains that his tweets had an educational purpose above all. “This is the first time I’ve cracked a joke being on this network more as a scientific authority. The good news is that some caught on to the deception right away, but it also took two tweets to clear. It also illustrates the fact that fake news is always more successful than real news on such social networks. I also think if I hadn’t said it was a James Webb photo it wouldn’t have been as successful,” he explains.
Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4.2 année-lumière de nous.
Elle a été Prize par le JWST.
Ce level de details… Un new world se devoile jour après jour. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022