From stars to sausages, the universe is filled with incredible discoveries. At least, that’s according to a French scientist who had to apologize after claiming a photo of a piece of Spanish chorizo was actually of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.
Physicist Étienne Klein tweeted a photo of a round red object on a black background that he claimed was taken from the James Webb Space Telescope. “This level of detail… A new world is revealed day after day,” he wrote in the post.
A short time later, Klein posted on the social media platform again, suggesting that his followers beware of “cognitive biases.” He also noted that “according to contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth.”
Eventually, Klein admitted to posting the original sausage photo “as a form of amusement,” attempting to turn the prank into more of a teachable moment for social media users. He wanted to urge caution about believing everything you see online. “Let us learn to be wary of arguments from authority,” he wrote.
A few days after the trolling incident, Klein posted a photo that was actually taken from the James Webb Space Telescope and swore it was “REAL this time.”
Twitter users were quite amused by the joke, commenting in droves on the original post. One user wrote: “I believe this is found in the deli galaxy.”
Another commented: “The real scandal here is a Frenchman eating *Spanish* sausage.”
Source: https://twitter.com/EtienneKlein/status/1553765864553472003