[ndm000]

I know nothing about optics. What is the effect that causes the 6 or 8 points of light of come off of bright objects? Does it have to do with the hex-shaped mirrors on JWT?

[arianvanp]

it's called a point spread function; and is an artifact that occurs in any mirror telescope. https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/james-webb-spikes/ explains it pretty well.

[PavleMiha]

Yes, and also two of the trusses to the secondary mirror (these are the two additional horizontal lines). The Hubble Space Telescope gets 4 lines because of its 4 trusses.

[supernovae]

The simple answer is simply because of the physics of the scope, the support arms cause diffraction spikes. The hubble has them too but is a smaller mirror and different support arrangement. Super common on consumer scopes such as RCs, Newts and big tube scopes that aren't RASAs

[Keyframe]

Aperture shape, so in this case I guess the answer is yes?