Is this fungus or dust on my lens?

Question

I've a D5100 for around a year with 18-55mm kit lens and recently bought a 55-200mm lens. For around 1 month I saw a starry shape in the front glass of the lens. After searching on Google I came to know that sun light may help to kill it if it's fungus. From then I keep the lens directly in sunlight and also tried to kill that starry shape using a magnifying glass under the sun, but the shape neither increased not decreased.

Please help me to find out if it's fungus or not !

Is there anything else I can do to remove it [instead of giving it to the Nikon center, as I want this to be my last option :D]
I place my camera packed in a plastic pouch inside a leather bag. The dust lies between the front glass and the filter.

Answer 1

That's definitely fungus, and it's not going to go away. The first question to ask is it affecting your image quality. If it is not then control the problem, always keeping the lens in a dry environment.

You could get it professionally cleaned, but honestly for that lens you could buy a replacement for a lot cheaper. You may also want to read about some ideas for reducing effect of fungus on the lens if you don't want to have it professionally cleaned.

Answer 2

+1 for fungus. You can also put it in the freezer for 48 hours, inside a plastic bag. That will kill it. As above, it won't go away though, but it shouldn't grow any more.