Alternate Alleles in VCF are more than 1 base

Hi there,

I've removed INDELS from a multi-sample vcf from HaplotypeCaller using SelectVariants. However, the ALT 'SNPs' are more than a single nucleotide substitution. Eg.

TTTTTTGTTTTTTGTTTT,GTTTTTGTTTT,G
TTTTTTTA,*
TTTTTTTAG,*
TTTTTTTATTTTTCATTTA,*
TTTTTGTTTTTTTA,TC,*

Q1) What is the meaning of the * symbol?
Q2) Is it to be expected that these SNPs are more than a single nucleotide substitution?

Thanks,
Tom