This Selfie Of an Astronaut Is Digitally Altered
The Claim
An image shows an astronaut taking a selfie.
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A photo is being widely shared by social media users alleging that it is a selfie of an astronaut. The photo shows an astronaut taking a selfie in space with the Earth in the background.
Users shared this photo on X, along with the caption “Astronaut selfie. Possibly the coolest picture ever!”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the photo and found it to be misleading.
A thorough reverse image search revealed the photo to be digitally altered.
The Photo of an Astronaut Selfie Is An Edited Digital Artwork
Misbar’s team was able to trace the origins of the photo. The photo is taken from digital art made by Rober Jahns, an award-winning digital artist. He posted it on his Instagram account, named “nois7,” on April 23, 2014, celebrating Earth Day 2014.
The circulated photo is this same artwork with some alterations.
The artwork was originally inspired by a real photo featured by NASA in 2012.
Artwork Inspired By An Astronaut Aboard The International Space Ship
Rober Jahns’ digital art was inspired by a real photo. The portion of the image that features the astronaut is from an image featured by NASA as the astronomy picture of the day, on September 18, 2012.
The astronaut who took this photo is a Japanese astronaut, called Aki Hoshide. He took it while he was aboard the International Space Ship (ISS), the largest modular space station in low Earth orbit.
However, Jahns added the background himself in his artwork.
It is worth noting that this claim has been circulating all over the internet for a while.
How Does Digital Art Differ From Traditional Art?
Digital art allows artists to create immersive experiences and augmented reality works with the help of new technologies, such as motion graphics and virtual and augmented reality. It plays a vital role in business, especially in the fields of marketing and entertainment as it could be used to create eye-catching images.
Digital art is notable for combining traditional painting methods with the digital world. Hence, digital art has the same material and creative process used for traditional art, except it does not leave the same mess as the traditional. In digital art, every artwork is created in a digital format for digital reproduction, so artists do not start to paint from scratch.
What Is The International Space Station?
The International Space Station is a multi-nation laboratory project. It involves five space agencies: the United States' NASA, Russia's Roscosmos, Japan's JAXA, Europe's ESA, and Canada's CSA. It includes contributions from 15 nations.
According to NASA, the primary objective of the ISS is to support scientific research and other activities requiring the unique attributes of humans in space. The ISS serves as a gateway for humans to other planets. It is a place to study the long-term effects of weightlessness on human bodies and other things that could only exist in space.
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