<p>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Magellanic_Cloud.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this image of the Large Magellanic Cloud</a> from the Spitzer space telescope, there's a straight line of red stars in the bottom right corner (much easier to see if you go to the link and open the full resolution, but that's a 58 MB image):</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Av4l348J.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Av4l348J.png" alt="Line of red stars in image of Large Magellanic Cloud" /></a></p>
<p>This seems to me unlikely to be represent the actual physical reality. The description states</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer.
Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was
captured by the telescope's infrared array camera; 24-micron light
(red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is this just an effect due to the underlying images which were composed together covering different areas?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-26T02:37:55.810Z
Looks like a problem with creating a large mosaic of images.  The edge of the image in one wavelength does not match the edge of the image at another wavelength.
eshaya
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-26T08:52:12.117Z
the two left corners are also missing the red channel.
asdfex
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-26T14:41:18.230Z
Yeah, that looks like the red-channel sweep covered a slightly different section of the sky so it cuts out in some areas
Darth Pseudonym
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-27T07:29:55.850Z
Different but related (mosaic pattern issues) [Why does one object (star?) in this JWST image have two sets of six+plus+two diffraction spikes but another, similar object nearby have only one?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/51994/7982) Peter Irwin's answer is very helpful!
uhoh
<space-telescope><dwarf-galaxy>
Why does there appear to be a straight line of red stars in this image of the Large Magellanic Cloud?
llama
# Why does there appear to be a straight line of red stars in this image of the Large Magellanic Cloud?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-05-25)

In [this image of the Large Magellanic Cloud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Magellanic_Cloud.jpg) from the Spitzer space telescope, there's a straight line of red stars in the bottom right corner (much easier to see if you go to the link and open the full resolution, but that's a 58 MB image):

[![Line of red stars in image of Large Magellanic Cloud](https://i.sstatic.net/Av4l348J.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Av4l348J.png)

This seems to me unlikely to be represent the actual physical reality. The description states

> This picture is a composite of infrared light captured by Spitzer.
> Light with wavelengths of 3.6 (blue) and 8 (green) microns was
> captured by the telescope's infrared array camera; 24-micron light
> (red) was detected by the multiband imaging photometer.

Is this just an effect due to the underlying images which were composed together covering different areas?

**Tags:** space-telescope, dwarf-galaxy

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Looks like a problem with creating a large mosaic of images.  The edge of the image in one wavelength does not match the edge of the image at another wavelength.  
> **username_2**: the two left corners are also missing the red channel.  
> **username_3**: Yeah, that looks like the red-channel sweep covered a slightly different section of the sky so it cuts out in some areas  
> **username_4**: Different but related (mosaic pattern issues) [Why does one object (star?) in this JWST image have two sets of six+plus+two diffraction spikes but another, similar object nearby have only one?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/51994/7982) Peter Irwin's answer is very helpful!  

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## 0 answers

