Yes and no... The client gets updates, and is aware of whips in the battle. At the moment though the combat engine is about 80% implemented. We just have to add the display portion. It will be in an update in the near future.
No you can combat ships at the star. When a ship is moving across a map it briefly appears at the center of each sector, it isn't really there. It is a warp transit anomaly. In the future perhaps what we need to add is something that tells you the ship is just flying through, rather than actively watching you.
If the ship sits there for more than a few min (depending on ship type) and you still can't attack them, then I would say it's a glitch.