The 'space telescope image' was a slice of chorizo, says, top scientist

A French scientist has apologized after tweeting an image of a slice of chorizo, mistakenly claiming it was a photograph of a distant star taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The 'level of detail' in the image of the spicy Spanish sausage was hailed by physicist Etienne Klein, director of France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission.

The closest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away from us. This level of detail is unimaginable. A new world is being revealed every day,' he wrote to his 91,000 followers on social media.

As a result, the post was retweeted and commented upon by thousands of people, who were convinced that the scientist was telling the truth. But things weren't quite as they seemed, as the scientist later explained.

A series of follow-up tweets by Klein, following the initial one, confirmed that the image was a close-up photograph of a slice of chorizo with a black background set against it.

During cocktail hour, cognitive bias seems to find plenty to enjoy. Beware of it. Spanish charcuterie is one of the few objects in the universe that doesn't exist anywhere else but on Earth.'

The prank received backlash from the online community, so he wrote: 'In light of certain comments, I feel obliged to clarify that this tweet showing an alleged image of Proxima Centauri was a joke. Let's be wary of authority arguments and spontaneous images.'

As Klein apologized for the hoax on Wednesday, he stated he intended to 'warn people against the use of images that seem to speak for themselves.'

Attempting to make amends for his previous picture, he posted an image of the spectacular Cartwheel galaxy in an attempt to assure his followers that this photo was legitimate this time around.

The Webb telescope, the most powerful telescope ever launched into space, is one of the most powerful telescopes of all time. The telescope started scientific operations on July 12. 

A telescope such as this will be able to peer inside the atmosphere of exoplanets and observe some of the first galaxies that formed after the universe began through infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye.