It's probably easier to produce compelling "astro" images from close up abstracts of something else like strawberry jam, than it is to do the real thing. A LOT less costly, as well...Did anyone not try to save the image and see if any exif data showed? Perhaps there was none. But if there is, it should show a 100mm lens was used, in which case you would have to look closer to earth for an explanation of what the shot portrays.
Certainly art is in the eye of the beholder, but I wonder what would have happened if GuyF had tried to sell prints of the image (or even just digital copies) and pass it off as a real astro pic? Assuming there would be buyers, of course...I presume it wouldn't have taken long for someone to debunk it.
It also seems he was trying to provoke Nikon lurkers just a wee bit...hahaha...I can imagine them immediately going out on a sunny day to try to capture a planetary transit with magical "universe shine" on the shaded side, which is somehow comparable to the sun's relative close-proximity light output...hahahahaha!!! Fried eyeballs and big melted black lenses might result, but no "universe shine" :-D...
