<p>Apparently it is a fake, in fact a picture of chorizo sausage. See <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/08/05/europe/scientist-space-image-chorizo-intl-scli-scn/index.html" rel="noreferrer">https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/08/05/europe/scientist-space-image-chorizo-intl-scli-scn/index.html</a> for example.</p>
<p>Sigh…</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T06:30:25.813Z
Would habe been good on April 1st... though I kinda understand that it is a joke gone quite wrong
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T14:19:13.337Z
Personally, I genuinely find it violently unfunny.
White Prime
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T03:25:10.970Z
I'm not sure I'd describe a picture of a slice of cured meat as "a fake". That word implies some effort to deceive. This is just an unmanipulated photo of a slice of sausage, with a short, fantastic story. It's a joke.
Christopher James Huff
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-07T05:22:34.720Z
@ChristopherJamesHuff We'll never know for sure, and it's hard to get inside the head of someone in such a position doing such a thing, but indeed they now characterize it as a "joke", albeit a horribly failed one.  [A few days later, Klein admitted that what he shared was actually a photo of a slice of chorizo against a black background. "In view of certain comments, I feel obliged to specify that this tweet showing an alleged picture of Proxima Centauri was a joke,” Klein said.](https://www.engadget.com/james-webb-space-telescope-chorizo-photo-222957990.html)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T02:07:58.430Z
2022-08-06T02:07:58.430Z
Jon Custer
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Klein" rel="noreferrer">Etienne Klein</a> (@EtienneKlein)'s twitter account labels them as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Directeur de recherche  <a href="https://twitter.com/CEA_Officiel" rel="noreferrer">@CEA_Officiel</a>, producteur de « Science en questions » sur  @franceculture, publie « L’esprit du corps »</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and cea.fr's <a href="https://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/cea/the-cea-a-key-player-in-technological-research.aspx" rel="noreferrer">English &quot;about CEA&quot; page</a> begins:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>defence and security,</li>
<li>low carbon energies (nuclear and renewable energies),</li>
<li>technological research for industry,</li>
<li>fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.</li>
</ul>
<p>Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.</p>
<p>The CEA is established in nine centers spread throughout France. It works in partnership with many other research bodies, local authorities and universities. Within this context, the CEA is a stakeholder in a series of national alliances set up to coordinate French research in energy (ANCRE), life sciences and health (AVIESAN), digital science and technology (ALLISTENE), environmental sciences (AllEnvi) and human and social sciences (ATHENA).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Widely acknowledged as an expert in its areas of skill, the CEA is actively involved in the European Research Area and its international presence is constantly growing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The CEA is the only French research organization to be listed in the Clarivate 2020 ranking and is the leading French research organization filing patents in Europe, according to the European Patent Office (EPO) 2021 ranking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From this account the following image and text (below) was tweeted.</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong> What is the story behind this supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri" rel="noreferrer">Proxima Centauri</a> attributed to the JWST?</p>
<p>There certainly exist blurry images of stellar disks (the dark spots in interferometric infrared and/or radio images of Betelgeuse come to mind) but never anything with such high spatial frequencies. What's going on?</p>
<hr />
<blockquote>
<p>Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4,2 année-lumière de nous.</p>
<p>Elle a été prise par le JWST.</p>
<p>Ce niveau de détails… Un nouveau monde se dévoile jour après jour.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Google translated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Photo of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years from us.</p>
<p>She was taken by the JWST.</p>
<p>This level of detail… A new world is revealed day after day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/yaVmF.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/yaVmF.jpg" alt="supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of Proxima Centauri attributed to the JWST tweeted by Etienne Klein" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T01:26:19.683Z
Are you looking for something beyond "it's a slice of chorizo"?
Christopher James Huff
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T01:46:49.693Z
@ChristopherJamesHuff SE answers are as much for future readers as they are for the OP, if not more. Presumably answers will be informative beyond the image itself and draw from fact-based sources.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T04:04:10.487Z
Before you downvote know that this was posted by a well known scientist.  Don't assume the person asking this question found it on some conspiracy website.
Greg Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T17:17:45.777Z
One explanation: "the scientist thought he was doing gastronomy."
Camille Goudeseune
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-06T18:17:08.880Z
@CamilleGoudeseune ouch! Soon we'll need a gastronomy tag; [If I can't unscramble an egg, how do Astronomers unscramble views gravitationally lensed by complex mass distributions?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/50029/7982)
uhoh
<observational-astronomy><identify-this-object><james-webb-space-telescope>
What is the story behind this supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of Proxima Centauri attributed to the JWST?
uhoh
# What is the story behind this supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of Proxima Centauri attributed to the JWST?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-06)

[Etienne Klein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Klein) (@EtienneKlein)'s twitter account labels them as:

> Directeur de recherche [@CEA\_Officiel](https://twitter.com/CEA_Officiel), producteur de « Science en questions » sur @franceculture, publie « L’esprit du corps »

and cea.fr's [English "about CEA" page](https://www.cea.fr/english/Pages/cea/the-cea-a-key-player-in-technological-research.aspx) begins:

> The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas:
>
> * defence and security,
> * low carbon energies (nuclear and renewable energies),
> * technological research for industry,
> * fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences.
>
> Drawing on its widely acknowledged expertise, the CEA actively participates in collaborative projects with a large number of academic and industrial partners.
>
> The CEA is established in nine centers spread throughout France. It works in partnership with many other research bodies, local authorities and universities. Within this context, the CEA is a stakeholder in a series of national alliances set up to coordinate French research in energy (ANCRE), life sciences and health (AVIESAN), digital science and technology (ALLISTENE), environmental sciences (AllEnvi) and human and social sciences (ATHENA).
>
> > Widely acknowledged as an expert in its areas of skill, the CEA is actively involved in the European Research Area and its international presence is constantly growing.
>
> The CEA is the only French research organization to be listed in the Clarivate 2020 ranking and is the leading French research organization filing patents in Europe, according to the European Patent Office (EPO) 2021 ranking.

From this account the following image and text (below) was tweeted.

**Question** What is the story behind this supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of [Proxima Centauri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri) attributed to the JWST?

There certainly exist blurry images of stellar disks (the dark spots in interferometric infrared and/or radio images of Betelgeuse come to mind) but never anything with such high spatial frequencies. What's going on?

---

> Photo de Proxima du Centaure, l’étoile la plus proche du Soleil, située à 4,2 année-lumière de nous.
>
> Elle a été prise par le JWST.
>
> Ce niveau de détails… Un nouveau monde se dévoile jour après jour.

Google translated:

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

[![supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of Proxima Centauri attributed to the JWST tweeted by Etienne Klein](https://i.sstatic.net/yaVmF.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/yaVmF.jpg)

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, identify-this-object, james-webb-space-telescope

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Are you looking for something beyond "it's a slice of chorizo"?  
> **username_0**: @ChristopherJamesHuff SE answers are as much for future readers as they are for the OP, if not more. Presumably answers will be informative beyond the image itself and draw from fact-based sources.  
> **username_2**: Before you downvote know that this was posted by a well known scientist.  Don't assume the person asking this question found it on some conspiracy website.  
> **username_3**: One explanation: "the scientist thought he was doing gastronomy."  
> **username_0**: @CamilleGoudeseune ouch! Soon we'll need a gastronomy tag; [If I can't unscramble an egg, how do Astronomers unscramble views gravitationally lensed by complex mass distributions?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/50029/7982)  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2022-08-06. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

Apparently it is a fake, in fact a picture of chorizo sausage. See <https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/08/05/europe/scientist-space-image-chorizo-intl-scli-scn/index.html> for example.

Sigh…

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Would habe been good on April 1st... though I kinda understand that it is a joke gone quite wrong  
> **username_6**: Personally, I genuinely find it violently unfunny.  
> **username_1**: I'm not sure I'd describe a picture of a slice of cured meat as "a fake". That word implies some effort to deceive. This is just an unmanipulated photo of a slice of sausage, with a short, fantastic story. It's a joke.  
> **username_0**: @ChristopherJamesHuff We'll never know for sure, and it's hard to get inside the head of someone in such a position doing such a thing, but indeed they now characterize it as a "joke", albeit a horribly failed one.  [A few days later, Klein admitted that what he shared was actually a photo of a slice of chorizo against a black background. "In view of certain comments, I feel obliged to specify that this tweet showing an alleged picture of Proxima Centauri was a joke,” Klein said.](https://www.engadget.com/james-webb-space-telescope-chorizo-photo-222957990.html)  

---

