?

• by SteveVanDooren

  What is this ?

  Posted March 24, 2013 10:00 PM

• by ElisabethB moderator

  That is what bright stars look like in these Hubble pics.
  The spikes and colors are optical artifacts.
  The spikes are diffraction spikes.
  wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction_spike

  Posted March 24, 2013 10:01 PM

• by Wrenchman

  That is a star in our own galaxy, the spikes are artifacts, and yes that happens allot.

  Posted March 24, 2013 10:02 PM