A beautiful new Hubble picture reveals a hot young variable star in the Orion Nebula.

Here’s another stunning image from the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. These blue and red ripples detail a small part of the famous Orion Nebula. But what’s really eye-catching are the bright stars with the cross-shaped diffraction spikes that are characteristic of Hubble images.

At center is the bright variable star V 372 Orionis, with a smaller companion named BD-05 1307 on the upper left.

V 372 Orionis, also known as HD 36917 or Ori 47, is a so-called Orion variable star, a variable star that exhibits random variations in brightness. Orion variable stars are often associated with diffuse nebulae, as are the nebulae of gas and dust in the Orion Nebula, a massive star-forming region filled with young, hot stars about 1,450 light-years from Earth.

BD-05 1307, known as 2MASS J05345223-0533085 or TIC 427373786, is classified by emission line.

This image uses data from two Hubble instruments. Infrared and visible wavelength data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 have been layered to reveal rich details about this edge of the nebula, a frequent target of the Hubble Telescope for many years.

The spikes in the star image aren’t actually part of the star, but imaging artifacts created by Hubble itself. ESA explains that these striking artifacts are “created by starlight interacting with Hubble’s inner workings and consequently reveal hints of Hubble structure.” The four spikes surrounding the star in this image are created by four vanes inside the hubble that support the telescope’s secondary mirror.”

By comparison, the James Webb Space Telescope’s diffraction spikes have a six-pointed shape as a result of Webb’s hexagonal mirror segments and a three-leg support structure for the secondary mirrors.