1-8-2018
I went back to the library, today, and learned of a website that had some answers as to NASA's apparent discovery. After some hesitation, I had asked one of the younger librarians--she had to be about my age--if there was a way to look up information on recent rumors. She suggested for me to try this website called Snopes.
It was the first time I had heard of it, so for my own sake, I will explain it here for future reference: It is a faked-checking website, started in 1994 to research urban legends. It is apparently a very acclaimed source with personnel making appearances as guests on national news programs.
I did a little digging, there, and found a recent article about exactly what I had heard about. The Article is titled: ''NASA reports new star that suddenly appeared?''
As oddly specific of a title that is, the claim matches up perfectly. The picture on the page was clearly of some kind of red star, but the shape was distorted. It was as if the photo were dripping like runny paint; I could hardly believe it was a photo taken by NASA.And neither could the good folks at Snopes. The rating of the rumor was proclaimed as false.
According to the article, the telescopes NASA uses are simply too advanced to have that much distortion. The origin of the claim comes from an article written by a small news website--I have the name somewhere in my notes, but its name escapes me right now. It apparently almost went viral, but then the owners of the website made an official statement on January 2nd, 2018, recanting their article and admitting it was an unprofessional prank written up by the original author.
As much as I want to trust this reputable website, I can feel it in my gut that there is something more--correction, I know there is, because IMP got involved. I had done a little more digging around the website which originally posted the article, but not only was the article deleted, but I could not find any information of the author. No contacts. Not even an 'About' page. It is as if they were never even employed by them.
If I can find them, somehow, maybe I can learn more.
