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French Physicist's Beautiful Proxima Centauri Photo Turns Out to be a Piece of Chorizo

posted by janrinok on Tuesday August 09 2022, @12:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the as-good-as-horse-dewormer dept.

upstart writes:

French Physicist's Beautiful Proxima Centauri Photo Turns Out to Be a Piece of Chorizo - IGN:

Earlier this [last] week, French physicist Etienne Klein seemed to post a photo of Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to our own, located some 4.2 light years away. The photo was gorgeous and quickly amassed thousands of likes.

There was just one problem: the photo was actually just a bit of chorizo.

As translated by IGN, Klein originally posted the photo with the caption, "Closest photo of Proxima Centauri, the star that's closest to the sun, located 4.2 light years away from us. It was taken by the [James Webb Space Telescope]. This level of detail...a new world is revealed day after day."

It quickly emerged that the photo was fake; one scientist's practical joke.

"Well, when it's time for the aperitif, cognitive biases seem to have a field day, so watch out for them," Klein tweeted. "According to the contemporary cosmology, no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth."

He then warned against online misinformation. "When seeing certain comments, I feel an obligation to specify the tweet showing an alleged snapshot of Proxima Centauri was a form of amusement. After this we have to beware of arguments from authority as much as the spontaneous eloquence of certain images."

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2022, @07:45PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09 2022, @07:45PM (#1265818)

    Cherry-picked time frame, as expected from this author.

    I accept there is substantial public funding. BUT - where is it going? If you are in a university system you will quickly notice vast layers of management dedicated to acquiring funding and a trickle of piss for any actual working scientists. It's the Great Man theory; the Great Man is the one who excels in marketing... sorry, grantsmanship, and specializes in navigating the bureaucratic maze to gets on the government teat.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 09 2022, @09:35PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 09 2022, @09:35PM (#1265829) Journal

    Cherry-picked time frame

    From the end of the Second World War till now. That time frame wide enough for you?

    I accept there is substantial public funding. BUT - where is it going?

    Science, obviously. \sarc You some kind of communist?

    If you are in a university system you will quickly notice vast layers of management dedicated to acquiring funding and a trickle of piss for any actual working scientists. It's the Great Man theory; the Great Man is the one who excels in marketing... sorry, grantsmanship, and specializes in navigating the bureaucratic maze to gets on the government teat.

    You describe a symptom not a cause.