http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060825.html
No, isn't last Hubble image, is the impressive work from advanced astronomy amateur (20" telescope remotely operated!). I do not know how he removed stars (simply patient clone brush?) but the result is absolutely great!
Look also to the original site, with other beautiful pictures:
http://www.rc-astro.com/about.html

Photoshop's Dust and scratches filter along with a little Clone stamp tool can do wonders for cleaning up cosmic ray hits, stars and other pests