The Sun on TV

[tell-me-more]

When the Sun is shown on TV, why does it always look like a six pointed star, rather than say five pointed or no points at all?

[drjohn]

If I understand the question correctly then this effect is likely to be caused by the optics (lenses, shape of the aperture or detector chip) of the TV camera used to obtain the image, assuming that any special filters haven't been used to produce the star effect in the first place.

[fo3nix]

drjohn's right.

it's also why stars in the sky at night have a sort of "+" shape to them, beacuse of the thin pieces of metal that have to hold the lens in place, in for example a telescope.

[Gef]

Question and answers all make me laugh. Thanks for having a sense of humour.