As a bit light diversion from the serious job of pushing science, Ethan's Science Blog has a rather short piece "Sorry, Internet, Some Of Your Favorite Space Pictures Are Fakes (Synopsis)". With only three pictures, it is more a 'sketch' than a 'synopsis'.
The above image, by Gate-To-Nowhere, is certainly beautiful, but also absolutely unreal. That the artist herself admits to creating fantasy landscapes should have been enough of a clue to dissuade the most gullible netizens that this was more worthy of being a cover for a sci-fi novel than an astronomy magazine.
So, what is physically wrong with this image? (And no sneaky-peeking on the search engines!)
Also, if you have any other almost-real and amazing images, feel free to post them in the comments.
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