Originally Posted by
stuck
OK so it's not a 'pixie'. It might be the camera but, would not a problem at that spot on the sensor show up on all your photos, i.e. even on ones taken on a different day at a different location? Assuming you don't see such a flaw in other photos then...
The EXIF show the date and time the photo was taken and guessing that the view is looking west out across the ocean from somewhere on the eastern seaboard of the US and using Stellarium (planetarium software) to visualise the night sky at that time, date and location, it could be the star called Vega. It can't be Mars as at that time & date Mars was below the horizon.