At first glance, the photo shows a red fireball, but that is deceptive. The photo is real, but it doesn’t come from deep space.
Paris – sparks of light in the darkness, glowing fireballs or exploding stars – images from space fascinate people and give an insight into a world whose dimensions quickly exceed the imagination. With ever more precise telescopes, images can be taken that would have been impossible just a few years ago. But no matter how fascinating these pictures may look – especially as a layman, you can quickly fall into a trap.
Space photo of huge fireball turns out to be a Spanish specialty
This is evidenced by a joke that the French physicist and philosopher of science Etienne Klein made on Twitter. On Sunday (August 7, 2022) he posted a photo of a red fireball with glowing spots against a dark background and claimed that the shot shows the closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri. And while Twitter users were still admiring the photo, the Huffington Post debunked the joke.
The alleged Proxima Centauri photo does not show the star but a slice of chorizo sausage, the journalists revealed.
Chorizo is a Spanish specialty – an air-dried raw sausage – made from pork or veal, bacon, salt, spices and, above all, paprika powder, according to the Edeka food lexicon. The sausage is said to be very similar to Italian salami and have a spicy taste.
Sausage photographer apologizes and reveals why he made fun of people
And the Spanish delicacy also looks like a star. But Etienne – who, according to Stern.de , has meanwhile apologized for his joke – could not fool all social media users with his chorizo recording. “Sorry – but anyone who eats chorizo every now and then sees that at first glance,” writes a user on Facebook. “Somehow the photo has been known since a blood moon many years ago,” adds another.
In any case, Etienne apologizes to everyone he fooled with his chorizo photo. He allowed himself a joke, said the author of the allegedly spectacular recording. With his Twitter post, he wanted to encourage caution against images that “appear meaningful on their own”. The scientist is celebrated by the Facebook community for the entertaining action.
“Great sausage recording” – Facebook users celebrate scientists for the campaign
“Had to smile first – great sausage shot,” writes a user. And another user assures that she quickly saw through the dizziness, but thought the chorizo sausage was salami. Only the users who fell for the fake react a little annoyed. “It was clear that there was again a Superbrain who had the perspective from the beginning,” replies a user to the comment with the salami mix-up.
Incidentally, Etienne posted a second photo with a similar motif on the same day. However, this is actually a photo taken by a space telescope. According to Stern.de , you can see the Cartwheel Galaxy, which is around 500 million light years away from Earth. In brackets, the scientist writes “vraie cette fois” – “this time for real”. However, a user cannot resist a comment based on the previous post, he comments: “Could have been a chorizo planet.”
