Star or sausage?: Scientist's online prank involving James Webb Telescope sparks outrage

The faith of astronomy lovers in the James Webb Space Telescope is now being exploited through pranks, an example of which surfaced recently. The prankster was a scientist named Étienne Klein, who is also the director of France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Taking to Twitter on July 31, he posted a picture claiming it features the star Proxima Centauri, which was photographed using the Webb telescope. 

"Photo of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years from us. She was taken by the JWST", the scientist wrote in his tweet. "This level of detail… A new world is revealed day after day".

Seemingly intrigued by the picture, astronomy lovers made the post viral as it managed to garner over 19,000 likes and over 2,500 comments and more than 3,500 retweets. 

"Well, when it's time for the aperitif, cognitive biases seem to have a field day… Beware, then, of them. According to contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth", he wrote in a second tweet.

Scientist clarifies what the image actually is

Soon after the picture was posted, it seemed to have drawn some negative comments which prompted the scientist to later clarify what the photo actually features. A day later on August 1, he revealed that it was actually a zoomed-in picture featuring a slice of the Spanish sausage chorizo. On damage control, the scientist said that the tweet was only for 'amusement' and advised his followers to be cautious about the "eloquence of certain images".

"In view of some comments, I feel compelled to clarify that this tweet showing an alleged snapshot of Proxima Centauri was a form of amusement", his tweet read. "Let us learn to be wary of arguments from authority as much as of the spontaneous eloquence of certain images".

His followers must have fallen for the prank owing to the stunning and highly-detailed images Webb is beaming back. It all began on July 12, when NASA and its partners ESA, CSA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) released the deepest images of the universe. Click here to read more about it.