whats the blue thing?

• by dr_bleblo

  Is this an artifact? I've seen this in some of the example photos as well what is it?

  Posted January 18, 2018 2:37 PM

• by JeanTate in response to dr_bleblo's comment.

  The green/yellow spike to the W (left) of the galaxy, with a four-pointed thingie in blue (and a fainter one in orange)?

  That's a (fairly) bright star, in our own Milky Way galaxy; you will likely find quite a few of these in various fields, though the exact appearance will differ. The spikes are called diffraction spikes, and are caused by the vanes in the telescope which support the secondary mirror near its mouth; the difference in the orientations of the yellow, orange, and blue spikes is likely due to the fact that this object was imaged as three different times.

  Hope this helps, and happy hunting! 😃

  Posted January 18, 2018 2:46 PM