• Question: Why do stars twinkle?

    Asked by purplebug123 to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 15 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      They twinkle because of our atmosphere. If you look at them from above the atmosphere, they don’t twinkle.

      Air currents and bits of dust change the light from the star every so slightly, making it appear to twinkle.

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 17 Mar 2012:

      The light has to pass through the atmosphere which makes it change direction ever so slightly – and that causes the twinkling.

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      In the same way that when the roads get hot, looking through the air just above them means that things shimmer, the atmosphere also gets disturbed by various sources of heat. Some of these are really high up, and it is these high layers (almost 10 miles above your head) that end up causing the twinkling.

      And stars are always twinkling, because when you can’t see them change, they are just twinkling too fast to see!

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      Because stars are so far away, you wouldn’t be able to see even the biggest of flares that could make the star seem to change shape. The twinkling is caused by ripples and air currents in the top of the atmosphere making the light form the star appear to wobble.

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