What is the difference between a figure environment compared to a figure* (figure star) environment

Question

It is hard to search for this question since most search engines treat the * symbol somehow special, so sorry if that has been asked before.

So, basically, I just would like to know what the difference is between the following two latex snippets. The only difference is that one uses figure while to other one uses figure*:

\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.7\textwidth]{MyFig}
    \caption{\label{fig:myfig}MyFig Caption.}
\end{figure*}

and

\begin{figure}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.7\textwidth]{MyFig}
    \caption{\label{fig:myfig}MyFig Caption.}
\end{figure}

Thank you!

Answer 1

Since the post has been unanswered for over 2 years, I am posting Ian Thompsons answer, so that this question can be marked as answered.

figure* produces a double column figure in a two-column document.

Also, figure* doesn't support [h] or [b].