A renowned French scientist has apologized for posting a photograph of what he called “the closest star to the Sun.”
Claiming to be the camera of the James Webb Telescope, scientist Etienne Klein tweeted a photo of a Spanish sausage last week, but captioned it as a newly discovered star.
Photograph of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light-years away.
She was taken by JWST.
This level of detail… Day after day, a new world opens up. pic.twitter.com/88UBbHDQ7Z— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022
At the same time, he said that this is the closest star to the Sun, which is located at a distance of 4.2 light years from Earth. Etienne claimed that the image was taken by the James Webb telescope, adding that a new world is discovered every day.
His post has been retweeted thousands of times and users have also commented. However, Etienne soon admitted to users that the photo is not a star, but a sausage on a black background.
I have come to apologize to those who might be shocked by my hoax, which contained nothing original. He just wanted to call for caution with images that seem eloquent on their own.
Scientist joke https://t.co/wHiJWxscxq #Astronomy via @LePoint— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) August 3, 2022
Etienne Klein apologized to users, saying that his intention was to convince people that we should be wary of images that arouse suspicion just by looking at them.
