Galaxy Zoo Talk

Bright spot in galaxy

  • vl49 by vl49

    Is the bright spot on the right edge of the galaxy in front of, within, or behind the galaxy? I guess it could be a whitish blue star in the foreground. Or another small galaxy? A supernova?

    Posted

  • fatha731 by fatha731

    First of all the bright sphere is indeed a star. We can see it very clearly (obviously), so it can't be in the background or inside galaxy (if it was in the background there would be no way we could see it here on GZ). Of course, it can't be part of the galaxy because that would mean that one star is bigger the the bulge of the galaxy (which is made mostly of stars). Now the brightest SN I've seen so far was way dimmer and for it to be visible the photo would have to be shot at a specific time. So only foregroundstar from our galaxy remains, which is the most likely explanation.

    Posted