May 28, 2023 02:05 AM
https://www.astronomy.com/science/astron...-the-ages/
INTRO: Following the July 2022 release of the first James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images — a haunting deep field of galaxies, its stunning picture of the Carina Nebula, the captivating beauty of Stephan’s Quintet and the Southern Ring Nebula — a flurry of other space images started widely circulating across social media platforms. That was when French Scientist Étienne Klein shared a picture of the closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, on Twitter.
The trusted researcher said the shot was taken by the JWST and praised its level of detail; the image was shared thousands of times across social media. But not all about the picture was as it appeared to be. This wasn’t Proxima Centauri at all. It was, in fact, a rather mundane (albeit tasty, I’m sure) slice of chorizo sausage against a black background.
When this was exposed, and in the face of considerable backlash, Klein apologized for the incident, which was dubbed “Chorizogate.” The scientist pointed out that his intention for sharing the image was as a response to the wide dissemination of JWST images and to “urge caution regarding images that seem to speak for themselves.”
“Along the lines of the Chorizogate, I remember the infamous ‘cheese frier’ — or buñuelo in Spanish — image presented as an image of our Sun,” Luz Ángela García, a cosmology postdoctoral researcher at Universidad ECCI in Bogotá, Colombia, tells Astronomy. “Although I think it was pretty funny, and the resemblance is uncanny, such hoaxes could generate a skeptical and cynical view toward professional astronomy.”
García adds: “There is nothing wrong with noting that a high-resolution image of an astronomical object has similar patterns as a piece of chorizo. What is not correct is to present the latter as an authentic astronomical image.”
As Chorizogate perfectly exemplifies, the growth of the internet and the increasing dependency on social media for news has made the propagation of both genuine science and sham images very easy.
However, it would be wrong to believe that hoaxes in and around astronomy are limited to the era of the internet. Such falsehoods have been around much longer than that, perpetuated by even the most reliable sources... (MORE - details)
COVERED: The Great Moon Hoax ..... The War that wasn’t ..... Doomsday 2012 and the planet Nibiru ..... Beware suspicious space stories
INTRO: Following the July 2022 release of the first James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images — a haunting deep field of galaxies, its stunning picture of the Carina Nebula, the captivating beauty of Stephan’s Quintet and the Southern Ring Nebula — a flurry of other space images started widely circulating across social media platforms. That was when French Scientist Étienne Klein shared a picture of the closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, on Twitter.
The trusted researcher said the shot was taken by the JWST and praised its level of detail; the image was shared thousands of times across social media. But not all about the picture was as it appeared to be. This wasn’t Proxima Centauri at all. It was, in fact, a rather mundane (albeit tasty, I’m sure) slice of chorizo sausage against a black background.
When this was exposed, and in the face of considerable backlash, Klein apologized for the incident, which was dubbed “Chorizogate.” The scientist pointed out that his intention for sharing the image was as a response to the wide dissemination of JWST images and to “urge caution regarding images that seem to speak for themselves.”
“Along the lines of the Chorizogate, I remember the infamous ‘cheese frier’ — or buñuelo in Spanish — image presented as an image of our Sun,” Luz Ángela García, a cosmology postdoctoral researcher at Universidad ECCI in Bogotá, Colombia, tells Astronomy. “Although I think it was pretty funny, and the resemblance is uncanny, such hoaxes could generate a skeptical and cynical view toward professional astronomy.”
García adds: “There is nothing wrong with noting that a high-resolution image of an astronomical object has similar patterns as a piece of chorizo. What is not correct is to present the latter as an authentic astronomical image.”
As Chorizogate perfectly exemplifies, the growth of the internet and the increasing dependency on social media for news has made the propagation of both genuine science and sham images very easy.
However, it would be wrong to believe that hoaxes in and around astronomy are limited to the era of the internet. Such falsehoods have been around much longer than that, perpetuated by even the most reliable sources... (MORE - details)
COVERED: The Great Moon Hoax ..... The War that wasn’t ..... Doomsday 2012 and the planet Nibiru ..... Beware suspicious space stories