The meteor picture that shocked the scientific world, and how it was faked

This year's Orionid meteor shower was not the most inspiring display of pyrotechnics the solar system has ever produced. At roughly 15 meteor sightings per hour, the average backyard observer would likely lose up to 20% of their overall digits to the bitter October cold in the time it would take to witness a satisfactory amount of meteor activity. But astoundingly, despite the mighty Hunter really dropping the ball on throwing burning particles of comet debris across the sky, one of the most fantastic amateur astronomy photos ever taken was shot during this bitterly disappointing example of a so-called celestial event.

The Fuzzbottom-20111021 photograph.

Fuzzbottom-2 - an astounding image of an Orionid meteor

In the wee small hours after the photograph was first produced, Fuzzbottom-20111021, referred to by most as Fuzzbottom-2, became an internet sensation. When the photographer posted the snapshot to his Facebook page, it threatened to crash the social network's servers to the ground. Within minutes, the "Likes" came pouring in. An astounding 75,000 users "Liked" the photograph before Facebook's built-in limits prevented further additions. Comments, among the thousands posted, ranged from, "Ooo, pretty," to "God'z rath [wrath] coming down on us! Reapent!!!1!" (the latter comment being one of many referring to the Apocalypse that occurred on October 21 - the second of two such Apocalypsi scheduled for 2011.)

Bertram Fuzzbottom of Cleveland, GA, who snapped the picture in his back yard with a mobile phone camera, described its production to USA Today in this way:

"I was out by our fire pit with my wife, Bethany, and our old dog Pooter, drinking hot chocolate and making s'mores. We had heard about the meteor shower and wanted to see it for ourselves, so we hauled out some blankets and my peepin' binoculars and headed on out. Honestly, I got a little bored. I got out my phone, checked in on Facebook, played the word 'PLUMP' on Words With Friends for 32 points on a double-word, and was gonna take a picture of Pooter yacking up a marshmallow when I saw a streak out the corner of my eyeball. I had the camera ready to go, so I turned and burned and that's what I got."

The Fuzzbottom-2 photo got the attention of the scientific community, as well. Dr. Phil Plait, astronomer, blogger, and Kangen Water distributor, studied the photo very closely. "It is certainly magnificent," said Plait. "Rarely do you see a picture of this quality from some yokel in his backyard. You can see, despite the total lack of context, that this particular meteor consists of a debris particle approximately the size of a Susan B. Anthony dollar intersecting with Earth's atmosphere at approximately 40 miles per second. From the fine detail of the flaming leading edge of the meteor, it is apparent that it is made up of approximately 30% dirt, 50% sulfur, 15% iron, and 5% love."

Not everyone was sold on Fuzzbottom-2 from the beginning. Brian Dunning, professional skeptic and creator of the popular Skeptoid podcast, approached the amazing image with, well, skepticism. "I thought it unlikely," said Dunning, "that the five-megapixel camera on an LG Revolution could take such a clear and detailed photo of a streaking ball of fire hundreds of miles above the photographer. I would have bet my next Big Pharma paycheck that it was taken with a tripod-mounted professional rig with a Carl Zeiss lens and a high speed shutter."

So Dunning did his homework. "I wanted to confirm the capabilities of the Revolution's onboard camera, so I called LG tech support. After spending almost half an hour on hold waiting for an operator, I gave up. I couldn't think of any way to investigate further, so I had no choice but to give this photo the coveted Skeptoid Stamp Of Authenticity. If it can't be disproven in an afternoon, then it must be real. That's the Skeptoid motto."

On the strength of Dunning's endorsement, excitement over the photograph spread like wildfire throughout the scientific community. Dr. Pamela L. Gay, astronomy professor and host of the Astronomy Cast podcast, had high hopes for the apparent technological advancements illustrated in the photo's creation. "I have never seen a meteor photograph like Fuzzbottom-2. Getting this level of quality out of a consumer cell phone has serious implications for the future of space exploration. If we simply mount one of these $600 phones on the James Webb Space Telescope in place of the planned NIRCam and MIRI infrared instruments, we could save the project hundreds of millions of dollars and still do some incredible science."

"You said mount," added Dr. Gay's Astronomy Cast co-host Fraser Cain, a Canadian.

Indeed, the Fuzzbottom-2 photo seemed to good to be true. And when something seems too good to be true, the hard-hitting investigators at Hippsology get to work.

Besides the obvious questions over the capabilities of a cell phone camera when taking a nighttime photo of a distant, fast-moving object, there was one thing that stood out in this reporter's mind.

S'mores.

Bertram Fuzzbottom claimed that he and his wife augmented their evening of stargazing with the liberal consumption of s'mores. As you may know, s'mores are a traditional campfire treat based on a recipe attributed to early Girl Scouts leader Loretta Scott Crew. The classic recipe consists of Graham cracker squares sandwiched around a chocolate bar and... a fire-roasted marshmallow.

Our exhaustive research has shown us that there are two recognized methods of roasting a marshmallow over an open fire such as the one the Fuzzbottoms had in their fire pit. Both involve poking a stick through a marshmallow (the Fuzzbottoms claim to have used wire coat hangers) and using said stick to suspend the mallow over the fire.

One method has the stick holder keeping the mallow high above the flames and constantly turning it until the heat causes the sugars in the marshmallow to caramelize, resulting in a crispy brown exterior surrounding a warm, gooey middle. The other method, one well known to former Girl Scout Bethany Fuzzbottom and former third-degree arsonist Bertram Fuzzbottom, is to shove the marshmallow into the flames until the mallow itself catches fire.

With that in mind, we at Hippsology present this digitally enhanced copy of the infamous Fuzzbottom-2 photo. We have adjusted the brightness and contrast, bringing out heretofore unseen details that shed new light on the image. These details expose the photo that baffled the experts as the hoax that it is.

Fuzzbottom-2 exposed: a flaming marshmallow on a stick

- Bennett R. Hipps
Hippsology Science Editor