The "sunbeam" in Pale Blue Dot is imaging artefact indeed! From <https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/solar-system-portrait-ear...>:

"Coincidentally, Earth lies right in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun."

See also <https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss85590.042/?sp=17>:

"Because of the way that sunlight is scattered off the spacecraft, the Earth seems to be sitting in a beam of light, as if there were some special importance to our small planet. But this is just an accident of geometry and optics. The Sun emits its radiation equitably to all directions in space."

Also, from the posted article itself:

"Indeed, even the hint of perceptual salience – the sunbeam in which Earth is suspended – isn’t a genuine feature of Earth’s position in the cosmos but an artefact of the image itself."

>the sunbeam in which Earth is suspended – isn’t a genuine feature of Earth’s position in the cosmos but an artefact of the image itself.

Toward the end of the article.

Stanley Kubrick messed that one up and turned up one of the stage lights too high.

EDIT: Guys... I'm kidding, c'mon.