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Juan Carlos Muñoz
Juan Carlos Muñoz
@astro_jcm@mastodon.online  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

While I'm no longer active in many commercial #SocialMedia platforms, as a #science communicator I still keep an eye on them to see how people (mis)understand #astronomy, and incorporate those lessons to my job.

Today Facebook crushed my soul with this abomination.

A while ago I wrote this article explaining how to spot fake #astrophotography images using science:

https://www.eso.org/public/blog/csi-astronomy/

That article has now been superseded by "this is fake because <waves hands angrily in despair>"

A Facebook post of one of those accounts that post fake science content to farm followers and engagement. The post contains a fake image of a total solar eclipse, with the moon blocking the sun, revealing an impossibly shaped solar corona – the Sun's wispy "atmosphere" so to speak. I don't know enough synonyms of "abhorrent" to properly describe this image. Imagine the most disgusting culinary affront in your country, like putting paella on top of a pizza and then topping it with ketchup. This is the astrophotography equivalent of that. The caption incorrectly claims that this is a picture of a recent solar eclipse over Antarctica. There was a solar eclipse over Antarctica on February 17, but it was an annular eclipse (which looks like a ring), not a total one. Not that this matters, because no solar eclipse has ever looked like this anyway. The stats at the bottom of the post shows 10k likes, 1.9k comments and 19k shares, each of them making yours truly die inside.
A Facebook post of one of those accounts that post fake science content to farm followers and engagement. The post contains a fake image of a total solar eclipse, with the moon blocking the sun, revealing an impossibly shaped solar corona – the Sun's wispy "atmosphere" so to speak. I don't know enough synonyms of "abhorrent" to properly describe this image. Imagine the most disgusting culinary affront in your country, like putting paella on top of a pizza and then topping it with ketchup. This is the astrophotography equivalent of that. The caption incorrectly claims that this is a picture of a recent solar eclipse over Antarctica. There was a solar eclipse over Antarctica on February 17, but it was an annular eclipse (which looks like a ring), not a total one. Not that this matters, because no solar eclipse has ever looked like this anyway. The stats at the bottom of the post shows 10k likes, 1.9k comments and 19k shares, each of them making yours truly die inside.
A Facebook post of one of those accounts that post fake science content to farm followers and engagement. The post contains a fake image of a total solar eclipse, with the moon blocking the sun, revealing an impossibly shaped solar corona – the Sun's wispy "atmosphere" so to speak. I don't know enough synonyms of "abhorrent" to properly describe this image. Imagine the most disgusting culinary affront in your country, like putting paella on top of a pizza and then topping it with ketchup. This is the astrophotography equivalent of that. The caption incorrectly claims that this is a picture of a recent solar eclipse over Antarctica. There was a solar eclipse over Antarctica on February 17, but it was an annular eclipse (which looks like a ring), not a total one. Not that this matters, because no solar eclipse has ever looked like this anyway. The stats at the bottom of the post shows 10k likes, 1.9k comments and 19k shares, each of them making yours truly die inside.
www.eso.org

ESOblog: CSI: Astronomy Learn how to spot fake astrophotography images

CSI: Astronomy
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AkaSci 🛰️
AkaSci 🛰️
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

@astro_jcm
Few weeks ago, a friend posted this pic on our WhatsApp group. Most of them have PhDs. Even after I pointed out that the image is fake, the reasons why it is fake and how to find out the actual locations of the planets in the night sky, they remained unconvinced.

There is an element of human psychology here where people simply like and share sensational stuff, science and logical thinking be damned.

Politicians and their enablers know how to exploit these tendencies, now with AI.

Graphic, not real image, of a crescent moon with Saturn and Neptune placed to make the image look like a smiley face.
Graphic, not real image, of a crescent moon with Saturn and Neptune placed to make the image look like a smiley face.
Graphic, not real image, of a crescent moon with Saturn and Neptune placed to make the image look like a smiley face.
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GhostOnTheHalfShell
GhostOnTheHalfShell
@GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai replied  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

@astro_jcm

All told, though it’s a nifty graphic.

Looks cool but falls into the famous “artist impression” of national enquirer fame

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ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘
ChookMother 🇦🇺🦘
@anne_twain@theblower.au replied  ·  activity timestamp 2 days ago

@GhostOnTheHalfShell Would be a great cover for a scifi novel.

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