Mysterious black dot with star in the background

• by Spirit59

  What do you think about this?

  Posted December 22, 2013 12:43 AM

• by ElisabethB moderator

  The black dot in the center of the star is an optical artifact.

  Posted December 22, 2013 11:20 AM

• by RLBeaton scientist

  Hi Spirit59 -- this is an artifact. Basically this star is SO bright, that it completely saturates the camera. When this happens, the camera returns nonsense! (You can see this happen yourself using a digital camera to take a photo of the Sun).

  Posted January 2, 2014 10:20 PM

• by jumpjet2k

  (Please note that using your digital camera to take a photo of the sun can potentially damage your digital camera. And don't use an optical viewfinder...)

  Posted January 10, 2014 7:33 PM