A photo of a red circle posted by Dr. Etienne Klein on his Twitter on the 1st (local time). It is not an image of Proxima Centauri captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), but a close-up shot of a cross-section of Spanish semi-dried sausage, chorizo. [Photo by Twitter]
[Asia Economy Reporter Sumi Hwang] A famous French physicist apologized after posting a cross-section photo of a sausage as an image of a star captured by a space telescope. This came amid criticism that it was an irresponsible prank by an influential scientist.
According to ABC News in the United States on the 5th (local time), Dr. Etienne Klein posted a photo of a red circle on his Twitter on the 1st.
Known as a physicist and philosopher of science, he currently runs the Institute of Material Science at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). He is also a prominent figure whose books have been translated into Korean and published domestically.
He introduced the photo of the red circle as the appearance of Proxima Centauri captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Proxima Centauri is the star closest to the Sun, located about 4.2 light-years from Earth.
Dr. Klein emphasized, "This is the level of detail," adding, "A new world is revealed every day."
The tweet was rapidly spread with thousands of retweets. This shows that there is considerable public interest in the JWST, which is called the most powerful space observation equipment ever.
Launched on December 25 last year, the JWST has recently been performing full-scale scientific observation missions and is producing results one after another. Following the delivery of the 'first light' images showing star formation and death, as well as galaxy evolution on the 12th of last month, it has also revealed the appearance of the 'Cartwheel Galaxy,' which resembles a round wheel. Especially, photos capturing more celestial bodies in high resolution compared to the past Hubble Space Telescope have attracted attention.
Photo of the Southern Ring Nebula (NGC 3132) taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, released by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the 12th of last month (local time) [Image source=Yonhap News]
However, Dr. Klein's photo was not an image of a star captured by the JWST but a cross-section of Spanish semi-dried sausage called chorizo. This sparked criticism among netizens as an 'irresponsible prank.' It was pointed out that sharing false images as an influential scientist is highly inappropriate.
Regarding this, Dr. Klein explained, "The intention was to urge caution even with images that seem obvious," but also bowed his head and apologized, saying, "I apologize to those who were shocked by my prank."
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