Is this a red star?

[PKay]

After spotting 3 red stars in one of my images (Omega Centauri) I looked into it.
Red stars are supposedly very small and dim and are very hard to image.

If it were one I would have put it down to a processing glitch.

Any ideas?

[billdan]

Could be red giants like Beetlejuice ;)

[ZeroID]

Hot pixels normally look like small coloured blocks when you zoom in on them. Looks nice and round with diffuse edges to me .. I vote carbon star.

[PKay]

thanks Bill, Brent

Learn something new every day in this game.

Following is a cut from ''Sky and Telescope':

'Most carbon stars are red giants, one of the reasons for their ruddy hue. Much of the star's red complexion comes from carbon in its atmosphere. Stars generate light and heat by nuclear reactions, converting hydrogen into helium in their cores. As a Sun-like star ages, its core compresses and heats up until it can cook helium nuclei into carbon. Convective currents dredge carbon from the core and deliver it to the star's outer layers where it forms a fine soot that scatters away blue and green light. Only oranges and reds penetrate the dusty barrier to reach our eyes.'

And this is exciting: I sent an email to some dude, who maintains a database of carbon stars, in an effort to find out if they are known about.:)

[astroron]

Without a wider field of view or even what part of Omega Cent,it is difficult to know if it is a carbon star or a hot pixel,you also have a red "star" up at the left corner of you pic.
Get yourself a a pic with the stars sharper and see if there is a Red star in that position.
There are plenty of fine pics on google to compare your pic with. :)
Cheers

[RickS]

You have a bit of a red halo around most of the yellow/orange stars. I think it's just more pronounced in the case of those three stars and most likely a data capture/processing artefact.

Cheers,
Rick.

[doppler]

There are plenty of carbon stars in that globular, the hard question is whether your image shows one or not.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090914.html

There is a nice fairly easy to find carbon star next to Mimosa on the southern cross.

[PKay]

WOW!! What an amazing image. It just keeps on getting better.
I will do that one day, even if it kills me...

Thanks guys, I have learnt heaps.
And I want to believe my image shows 3 of them :)