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| - Fact Check: NASA has nothing to do with this edited image of the sun's surface
A stunning picture apparently showing the sun's dazzling surface is viral on social media with the claim that it was published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
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India Today Fact Check
The picture was clicked and artistically edited by American photographer Jason Guenzel. NASA has absolutely no link with the picture.
A stunning picture apparently showing the sun’s dazzling surface is viral on social media with the claim that it was published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
A Facebook user shared the picture with the caption, “The most clear picture of the sun surface published by NASA.”
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the picture was clicked and digitally edited by an American photographer named Jason Guenzel. NASA has no connection with it.
The claim is being widely circulated on Facebook and Twitter. Till the time of filing this story, one such Facebook post had been shared over 77,000 times. The archived version can be seen here.
AFWA probe
While many users have fallen for the NASA story being narrated with the picture, others are puzzled if it is just a work of art and not an original picture of the sun.
A reverse search of the viral image led us to the website “Fine Art America”, which is an online art market. Here, the picture was uploaded by Jason Guenzel on January 16, 2021, with the caption, “Magnetic Sun: A stylized rendition of a solar close-up. This image highlights the turbulent magnetic field on the visible surface of our star.”
As per the ‘About’ section in Guenzel’s profile, he is a photographer based out of Michigan, United States.
We then tracked Guenzel’s social media presence and found that he’d posted the same picture on Twitter on January 13. He has clearly said in the caption that the picture is a “heavily software-processed image of the solar chromosphere”, i.e., the gaseous layer above the sun.
“Walking the thin line between science and art ... perhaps blurring it a bit,” is another line from the caption, indicating that the original picture was later artistically edited.
This heavily software-processed image of the solar chromosphere reveals the complex nature of the magnetic field within our star.
Walking the thin line between science and art ... perhaps blurring it a bit. #Astrophotography #space #solar #star #power pic.twitter.com/DaG3xjEiZd — Jason Guenzel (@TheVastReaches) January 13, 2021
Replying to a Twitter user who shared the viral image complimenting NASA, Guenzel commented, “Thanks for the share. I am the original content creator. This is a processed image using photos collected through my backyard solar telescope!”
Guenzel also wrote a Facebook post expressing concern about the picture being shared and attributed to NASA instead of him.
The post says: My solar image “Magnetic Sun” from a few weeks ago has been shared all over Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit in the last few days. In most cases, it has been uncredited and attributed to a NASA image. If you see it out there, do me a favor and try to set the record straight in the comments. Thanks for the interest!”
We did not find the viral picture or any information related to it on the official website or social media handles of NASA. We found several other images of the sun in the NASA photo journal.
Thus, it is clear that the viral picture is neither the clearest picture of the sun’s surface nor was it published by NASA. It is a heavily processed picture which was originally clicked by American photographer Jason Guenzel.
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