Rays around stars in images taken outside the atmosphere
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 6:16 pm
My apologies for a question that has undoubtedly been answered; I couldn't find the answer when I searched, however.
Many of the Astronomy Picture of the Day images have rays coming from some of the stars but the descriptions imply that the image was taken from a beyond-the-atmosphere source, such as Hubble. I thought that rays are a result of atmosphere distortion and only occur with images taken from underneath the atmosphere, so should I assume that these images have been manipulated in some way? Or, is my assumption incorrect?
Many of the Astronomy Picture of the Day images have rays coming from some of the stars but the descriptions imply that the image was taken from a beyond-the-atmosphere source, such as Hubble. I thought that rays are a result of atmosphere distortion and only occur with images taken from underneath the atmosphere, so should I assume that these images have been manipulated in some way? Or, is my assumption incorrect?