A prominent French scientist has apologized for posting a photo of what he called ‘the closest star to the Sun’.
Claiming the photo came from the James Webb Telescope, the scientist, Etienne Klein shared a photo on Twitter last week of a Spanish sausage but captioned it as a newly discovered star.
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— Etienne KLEIN (@EtienneKlein) July 31, 2022
At the same time, he said that it is the closest star to the Sun which is at a distance of 4.2 light-years from Earth. Etienne claimed the image was taken by the James Webb Telescope, adding that a new world was being revealed every day.
His post was retweeted thousands of times and users also commented. However, before long, Etienne admitted to users that the photo was not of the star, but of a sausage against a black background.
Je viens présenter mes excuses à ceux que mon canular, qui n’avait rien d’original, a pu choquer. Il voulait simplement inciter à la prudence vis-à-vis des images qui semblent éloquentes par elles-mêmes.
La blague d’un scientifique https://t.co/wHiJWxscxq #Astronomie 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 careful about images that raise suspicion just by looking at them.
