Why Do Stars Twinkle: Looking at the shining stars in the night sky, it seems that their light is increasing and decreasing again and again. But stars do not change their light like this. We see their twinkle because of the Earth’s atmosphere. That is, it is not the stars, but the earth’s air that plays with their light.
At night we see stars twinkling from the sky, people feel that their light is increasing and decreasing. But in reality their light does not change. Many people have many questions in their minds regarding these wires. Why does it flicker? Are their effects caused by the Earth’s atmosphere? So let’s know some interesting things about stars…
1. Starlight has to travel a long distance
The stars are not millions and crores of kilometers away from us, but many light years away. When their light reaches Earth, it ultimately has to pass through our atmosphere. Wind keeps moving continuously in the atmosphere. The temperature and density of air is also different at different altitudes. For this reason, the light of the star keeps refracting a little bit again and again. Because of this, we sometimes see the star brighter and sometimes a little less bright. This is called twinkling.
2. What do scientists call this?
This phenomenon is called Scintillation in the language of science. In simple terms, when different layers of air continuously rotate starlight, there is a slight change in its brightness and condition.
3. Why don’t planets twinkle like stars?
This is an interesting question. Due to the stars being very far away, they appear to us like a small point (point source) in the sky. Therefore, the effect of the atmosphere on their light is more clearly visible. The planets are very close to the Earth. Their light appears slightly spread to us. Therefore, small changes caused by wind balance each other and the planets appear to shine steadily. For example, if you have seen Venus or Jupiter, they often keep shining without twinkling.
4. Do stars twinkle in space too?
No. There is no atmosphere in space like Earth. That is why the stars appear to shine steadily there. For this reason, space telescopes can take clearer pictures than telescopes on Earth.
5. Weather also has an impact
If the air is more turbulent, the temperature is changing rapidly or there is more dust and moisture in the atmosphere, then the stars twinkle more. For this reason, astronomers prefer to do sky research in clear and calm weather.
Some interesting things about stars…
1. The twinkling of a star is called ‘Scintillation’. This occurs due to repeated refraction of light in the atmosphere.
2. Stars appear stationary in space. That’s why NASA and other space agencies send telescopes into space, so that clear pictures can be obtained without atmospheric obstruction.
3. The Earth’s atmosphere extends to about 100 km. Starlight has to pass through this atmosphere before reaching our eyes.
4. The word ‘Seeing’ is used in astronomy. It tells us how stable the atmosphere is on a given night. The better the seeing, the less the stars will twinkle and the clearer they will be seen through the telescope.
5. Some stars actually change their brightness. Although most twinkling is caused by the atmosphere, some stars, called variable stars, actually change their brightness from time to time. This is a different astronomical phenomenon.