Scientist Admits Fraud: Invalidates 'Distant Star' Supposedly Photographed by $10 Billion Telescope

A French scientist is apologizing after admitting that he shared a fake image of a star that was actually a piece of chorizo.

Étienne Klein, a physicist at 🇫🇷France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic ⚡Energy Commission shared a photo on Twitter of what he said was the star Proxima Centauri.

Klein claimed the image had been taken by the James Webb 🚀Space Telescope.

That device was launched into Earth’s orbit late last year, after construction that cost more than $10 billion, according to NPR.

The star is the closest star to Earth’s sun. But the reality behind the photo Klein shared isn’t light-years away from the human eye.