Google is testing a new shadowed star in their search results, this one keeping the usual yellow/orange color but adding a somewhat distracting shadow behind it.

Brian Barwig spotted the test on Friday.  This is how it looks:

Even the placement of the shadows is a bit odd.  While a drop shadow might look okay, in this test, the shadow projects further to the left depending on how many stars the listing has.

It is unclear if this test is only for local results, or if this new style of shadowed stars would also show up in things like product reviews or recipes in the search results.

It seems to be a limited test.  I wasn’t able to replicate it and I haven’t heard from anyone else who also saw it.  I hope this one doesn’t expand further because it is a very distracting look to the search results.