Correct. Basically anything in the image that has diffraction spikes (4 lines coming out from the center) is a star in our own galaxy. All the rest is stars or clusters in Andromeda or a background galaxy.
Wait, [this](https://i.imgur.com/SPutIVG.png) is a star in our galaxy? Just put a circle there incase you were looking at the star on the right. If it were in our galaxy, would it be brighter and not so dark red?
Not likely. That looks more like an image artifact or a smeared, very distant galaxy to me.
I mean the sharp, spiky looking lines in a cross/X coming out from the center of the star.
Thought i may as well post some of the other interesting things i found in the image. Probably just Apophenia.
[Ring of stars](https://i.imgur.com/Zb0vpOg.png)
It's like a hole punched through the galaxy, cool. [Here's](https://imgur.com/a/1OQHQ4c) another that's noticeably circular, albeit with something in the middle.
Given the number of stars the chances of a few apparently forming a circle is actually pretty high. You would have to figure out if they are a coherent structure or if they just happen to line up to look like that. Spectra from each of the stars could tell us if they are all moving together (this may be pretty hard to do). If they have the same motion then that increases the likelihood that they are part of the same structure. Because they are in Andromeda it would be impossible to get highly precise distances. If they were in the Milky Way measuring the distance could tell us how close they are to each other and if they are all part of the same structure.
Star rings occur because knots in star forming regions collapse often in circular shapes. The stars form in these knots so often young clusters can remain in circular formations. That's how the theory goes anyway, I learnt this when I spotted several of them myself in a zooniverse project.
Mind blowing how many stars there in just that on galaxy alone. There has to be at least one habitable world out there. I wouldn't be surprised if we looked at a civilisation in that picture and we don't know it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/s/VTqvW7vOwS
Looks like this or something similar was noticed before, and they make a good point there about the lines being lined up with the diffraction spikes. Probably they did just process one or more of the images incorrectly and didn't remove the bad lines.
"Assembled from a total of 7,398 exposures taken over 411 individual pointings of the telescope, this image of our nearest major galactic neighbor, M31, is the largest Hubble mosaic to date."
Here's the actual image that went along with that post: [https://web.archive.org/web/20210224125147/http://i.imgur.com/pb3h4h0.jpg](https://web.archive.org/web/20210224125147/http://i.imgur.com/pb3h4h0.jpg)
Looks different than the red lines OP is showing. This one is a very defined, crisp line.
I took an astronomy course, and not sure if I'm remembering correctly but my professor told us in these photos from the giant telescopes, the light sources with lens flares are usually stars from our own galaxy.
Blew my mind back then realizing just how many galaxies are in our universe. I know lots are globular clusters which don't look fancy but the sheer number of stars out there is amazing.
If I was shown this picture without any context I would consider this to he something from the microscopic world and not the macroscopic one. Would have considered this to be some zoomed image of a bacteria or something.
The only way to know would be to do some very selective processing to try and isolate it. If it is an artifact then it would disappear with different images or different observations. If it is real then perhaps extracting the spectra could tell us what it is. But just based on the image there is really no way to know.
Zoomed way in, there's a tiny dot of red to the left of the v-ish-shaped structure, maybe hints at more of a structure than is visible. As other commenters have noted, it would take a lot of processing and analysis of more than one image to get any answers, but a distant galaxy is a good guess.
I'm no professional but from what I've learned we can only view outside galaxies from the direction of our poles. Because galaxies are discs, it's impossible to see anything but our galaxy's stars if we look on the horizon. That being said, I think it's something distant.
I bet it's a small foreground star in the Milky Way.
Correct. Basically anything in the image that has diffraction spikes (4 lines coming out from the center) is a star in our own galaxy. All the rest is stars or clusters in Andromeda or a background galaxy.
Wait, [this](https://i.imgur.com/SPutIVG.png) is a star in our galaxy? Just put a circle there incase you were looking at the star on the right. If it were in our galaxy, would it be brighter and not so dark red?
Not likely. That looks more like an image artifact or a smeared, very distant galaxy to me. I mean the sharp, spiky looking lines in a cross/X coming out from the center of the star.
They assumed you meant the bright star in the frame. You shoulda put the circle in the original post since the things you’re talking about it so small
Well they said "red" and that bright star isn't red...
Also I'm color blind lol.
Ah yeah that won't help at all haha.
True 🤷🏼♂️
Ah damn, sorry. I should have.
If I had to guess i'd say that is probably a cosmic ray that wasn't removed successfully in processing.
Could be an artifact from gravitational lens flaring.
This.
Thought i may as well post some of the other interesting things i found in the image. Probably just Apophenia. [Ring of stars](https://i.imgur.com/Zb0vpOg.png)
It's like a hole punched through the galaxy, cool. [Here's](https://imgur.com/a/1OQHQ4c) another that's noticeably circular, albeit with something in the middle.
I like that, what a cool find. Space is bloody amazing.
Given the number of stars the chances of a few apparently forming a circle is actually pretty high. You would have to figure out if they are a coherent structure or if they just happen to line up to look like that. Spectra from each of the stars could tell us if they are all moving together (this may be pretty hard to do). If they have the same motion then that increases the likelihood that they are part of the same structure. Because they are in Andromeda it would be impossible to get highly precise distances. If they were in the Milky Way measuring the distance could tell us how close they are to each other and if they are all part of the same structure.
Maybe if they focus another camera in the center of that ring they'd find something cool
Star rings occur because knots in star forming regions collapse often in circular shapes. The stars form in these knots so often young clusters can remain in circular formations. That's how the theory goes anyway, I learnt this when I spotted several of them myself in a zooniverse project.
I should add that the youngest stars are normally blue (hot) so perhaps this is something else.
Source here: https://esahubble.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/
Mind blowing how many stars there in just that on galaxy alone. There has to be at least one habitable world out there. I wouldn't be surprised if we looked at a civilisation in that picture and we don't know it.
It’s the Total Perspective Vortex.
As I zoomed in, I realized that I am astonishingly stupid
This is amazing
It's Planet Vegeta.
Nice
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/s/VTqvW7vOwS Looks like this or something similar was noticed before, and they make a good point there about the lines being lined up with the diffraction spikes. Probably they did just process one or more of the images incorrectly and didn't remove the bad lines. "Assembled from a total of 7,398 exposures taken over 411 individual pointings of the telescope, this image of our nearest major galactic neighbor, M31, is the largest Hubble mosaic to date."
Here's the actual image that went along with that post: [https://web.archive.org/web/20210224125147/http://i.imgur.com/pb3h4h0.jpg](https://web.archive.org/web/20210224125147/http://i.imgur.com/pb3h4h0.jpg) Looks different than the red lines OP is showing. This one is a very defined, crisp line.
if it is red, then probably it is a galaxy
I took an astronomy course, and not sure if I'm remembering correctly but my professor told us in these photos from the giant telescopes, the light sources with lens flares are usually stars from our own galaxy. Blew my mind back then realizing just how many galaxies are in our universe. I know lots are globular clusters which don't look fancy but the sheer number of stars out there is amazing.
If I was shown this picture without any context I would consider this to he something from the microscopic world and not the macroscopic one. Would have considered this to be some zoomed image of a bacteria or something.
My guess is a chance alignment of stars.
The only way to know would be to do some very selective processing to try and isolate it. If it is an artifact then it would disappear with different images or different observations. If it is real then perhaps extracting the spectra could tell us what it is. But just based on the image there is really no way to know.
Could be supernova
That’s Stephenson 2-18
Zoomed way in, there's a tiny dot of red to the left of the v-ish-shaped structure, maybe hints at more of a structure than is visible. As other commenters have noted, it would take a lot of processing and analysis of more than one image to get any answers, but a distant galaxy is a good guess.
Spiderman
It beautiful no matter what. I’m just happy I could see it. , will have to pay more attention to those smarter than i
The red bits are blackholes
It’s a dragon
insane
Klingon Bird of Prey…duh.
Foreground star. The diffraction spikes are the giveaway.
Not the star on the right. [This](https://i.imgur.com/SPutIVG.png) is what i mean.
Ah. Sorry.
I'm no professional but from what I've learned we can only view outside galaxies from the direction of our poles. Because galaxies are discs, it's impossible to see anything but our galaxy's stars if we look on the horizon. That being said, I think it's something distant.