Yes, this is a most unfortunate image despite being a superb and evocative picture. The simple words ‘artist’s impression’ don’t appear at all, NASA really should know better.
As we all know, the media have a lot to answer for. My somewhat poorly informed, Daily Mail reading neighbour was all excited the other day, “had I seen the new planet, it’s got water on it”. To start with I thought he meant Enceladus with its subsurface ocean, but eventually decided it must have been the Kepler planet which caught his interest. But had I seen it? Err, no, actually.
Cheers
Hazel