2006-07-24 05:43:49 · 22 answers · asked by bigcordy 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Wow, 14 answers and only ONE of them is correct!! Welcome to the internet combined with the sheer ignorance of the masses regarding almost anything astronomical.
Weigh_with_words got the answer right. Planets (generally) do not twinkle because they appear larger than a mere point of light. Viewed through a telescope, you actually see a disk...and it's the fact of this disk that overcomes the effect of turbulance in the atmosphere. That said, planets can still twinkle during times of particulary strong air currents; especially those which present a smaller disk much of the time...Mercury and Mars.
2006-07-24 06:00:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 3⤋
Actually the smaller planets do twinkle (small that is when viewed from Earth). The planets that appear larger are too big for the atmsphere's interference to cause as noticeable a twinkling as they do with the smaller stars.
2006-07-24 05:51:00 · answer #2 · answered by weigh_with_words 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Things appear smaller the farther away they are, right? Stars are so far away that their apparent size is actually about zero. When you see a star that looks bigger or smaller than other stars it isn't the actual star you are seeing, it is only the light from the star. When the light goes through our atmosphere the air movements can cause it to bend temporarily. so the star seems to turn on and off, or to twinkle.
But a planet is close so it has visible size. The small movements of air that can seem to turn a star on and off cannot all act at the same way at the same time, so parts of the light from a planet are actually blinking, but in such tiny areas that the tiny parts of the light from a planet that are turning off and on aren't noticeable..
2006-07-24 06:14:46 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stars twinkle because they are giving off their own light. Planets only reflect the sun's light and therefore do not twinkle.
2006-07-24 06:38:19 · answer #4 · answered by Bigfoot 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stars are made up of different gases and elements, which cause them to "twinkle". Also, they would seem to twinkle because of passing asteroids that cause shadows upon the star. Planets on the other hand are smaller and are made up of different compounds.
2006-07-24 05:47:52 · answer #5 · answered by Autumn 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Planets reflect light.
The reason that planets don't twinkle is simply a matter of distance. Visible planets are much closer to us than any star except the sun.
2006-07-24 05:47:17 · answer #6 · answered by Brian L 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Loads of terrible answers above. The 'I thought stars were planets' is possibly the worst!
The key difference is visible size. Both stars and planets appear as points which are too small to see as disks but planets actually look much bigger than stars. A star is thousands of times bigger than a planet but millions of times further away so appears thousands of times smaller. When light passes through the atmosphere it gets deflected by tiny variations in the atmosphere, this causes the light to jump around. Stars appear so tiny that this jumping causes the brightness to vary rapidly as the light beam jumps around sometimes missing your eye entirely. The same effect happens to planets but as they appear bigger it takes a bigger deflection fo r the light to miss you entirely so the light appears steadier.
You can do a simple experiment to understand this. You need a sheet of bathroom glass which is full of distorting lenses (or something similar), a tiny torch and a big torch. Get someone to wave the 2 torches behind the glass and the big one will be less affected by the glass than the small one.
2006-07-24 09:39:08 · answer #7 · answered by m.paley 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When i was teaching lesson to hard surfaces about light planets were not paying attention and some did run away from my class but many sincerely listen me and they got twinkling so those are stars. and those who were bad didnt like my lecture are planets without light.
U also didnt like my lecture thats y u dont twinkle.
Seriously.
2006-07-24 05:50:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the light from the stars is travelling much further and have to pass through much more interference than the planets, including the atmosphere but mostly interstellar dust.
2006-07-24 05:46:35 · answer #9 · answered by bigscary_monster 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
are yo kiddin me. i donno what do u mean by that but if there is no any internal meaning for your question and its as simple as you said the answer would be that the stars dont twinkle. its seems so because of the very far distance and the size of them comparing to the planets.
2006-07-24 05:55:04 · answer #10 · answered by mojtaba_aud 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋