French Scientist Apologizes, Says 'Space Telescope Image' of Distant Star Was Actually Just Chorizo

Mar. 15, 2025

On July 31, French scientist Étienne Klein tweeted animageof a glowing red circle with a caption saying it was Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun.

“This level of detail… A new world is unveiled everyday,” he added.

The post received thousands of likes on the platform, but Klein later admitted the picture was not of Proxima Centauri, or of anything found in space. In fact, it was simply a picture of chorizo, a type of smoked sausage.

“Well, when it’s time for the aperitif [an alcoholic drink], cognitive biases seem to have a field day,” he later tweeted.

“Beware, then, of them,” Kleincontinued. “According to contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth.”

He added: “Let us learn to be wary of arguments from authority as much as of the spontaneous eloquence of certain images….”

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In an interview withLe Point, Klein further explained that the picture was meant as a joke.

“This is the first time I’ve made a joke when I’m more on this network as a figure of scientific authority,” Klein said. “The good news is that some immediately understood the deception, but it also took two tweets to clarify.”

“It also illustrates the fact that on this type of social network, fake news is always more successful than real news. I also think that if I hadn’t said it was a James-Webb photo, it wouldn’t have been so successful,” he explained.

source: people.com