French Astronomer Admits His James Webb Telescope Image Was Just A Piece Of Chorizo

The photos coming out of the James Webb Telescope have been truly amazing. We’ve seen deeper into space and with more detail than anyone has in the history of the human race. But, one image that was recently claimed to be from JWT appears to be a fraud, and the story is meatier than you would imagine.

On July 31st, French astronomer, Etienne Klein tweeted out an image that he claimed was a new JWST photo of “Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years from us.”

However, CNN is reporting that after thousands of comments, likes and retweets, Klein had to admit that the photo was not in fact a shot of Proxima Centauri, but was actually a photo of a slice of chorizo taken on a black background. It seems the entire incident could be chalked up to some bad judgment aided by happy hour.

Here’s what Klein said when called out:

“Well, when it’s cocktail hour, cognitive bias seem to find plenty to enjoy… Beware of it. According to contemporary cosmology, no object related to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere else other than on Earth”

“In view of certain comments, I feel obliged to specify that this tweet showing an alleged picture of Proxima Centauri was a joke. Let’s learn to be wary of the arguments from positions of authority as much as the spontaneous eloquence of certain images.”