When we look at another plannet from earth it appears to be twinkeling?

Question

If I were on another plannet looking back at the earth would the earth appear to be twinkeling?

Answer 1

Planets and stars can both twinkle, its called astronomical scintillation. In short it is caused by fluctuation in air density and temperature. Since stars and light both send light to earth (planets reflect a stars light whereas the star produces it's own) the twinkling effect can be seen in either. And thus if you were standing on another planet, it IS possible that earth would appear to twinkle. It's not guarenteed, but if the light coming from earth passed through some varying densities and temperatures it could appear to twinkle. Refer to this article for more on "twinkling":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintillation_%28astronomy%29

Answer 2

No, planets tend not to twinkle. Planets like Jupiter can be round up to 50 arcseconds, which just a tiny bit too small to avoid looking dot-like to the naked eye. Even through binoculars you can start to see the size of Jupiter.

Stars, on the other hand are something like a milliarcsecond or smaller, really tiny, get smeared out into a 1 arcsecond disk by the air, and twinkle all over the place on a clear night.

City airs are crap though, what with all the heat produced and all, I've seen planets twinkle though, if there were another planet with cities on it you'd see the same thing of Earth too.

Answer 3

Planets do not twinkle like stars, but it is not because of "dust" or "irregular radiation". The reason stars twinkle is because of their distance from us, or more importantly, their apparent size in the sky. They are so far away that they appear as point sources of light, and this light is easily disturbed by the turbulence of the atmosphere. Planets do not twinkle because, even though it is hard to see, they are not point sources and actually appear as small discs in the sky because they are *much* closer. Since they "appear" much larger in the sky, atmospheric turbulence has a drastically decreased effect on them. Basically, the larger something appears in the sky, the less the atmosphere will cause it to twinkle.

Answer 4

So far, The Wired has come up with the best answer. Maybe I can expand a little for you --

Just like a computer screen, your eye is composed of a certain number of "pixels," each represented by a single light-receptor cell in your retina. If two (or more) points of light are close enough such that they are focused on the same receptor cell in your eye, you will experience them as a single point of light.

Stars are true single point of light because of their immense distances from us . All the light from a star comes through the atmosphere in exactly the same direction, through exactly the same atmospheric turbulence, and thus is bent in exactly the same way. So when it gets to your eye, the amount of light you see varies. It also strikes (primarily) only a single receptor in your eye.

On the other hand, light from a planet is different. Each of a few receptors in your eye sees a large number of light rays coming from the planet, each of which has been bent differently by the atmosphere (since the planet has size on the sky, they are arriving in slightly different directions). Some of these rays will become brighter, some dimmer. But because they all illuminate the same receptor in your eye, that receptor only sees the total amount of light hitting it. There will be about the same number of enhanced rays as dimmed rays, so you experience a steady light, not a twinkle.

Answer 5

Plannets dont twinkel. Only stars twinkel. This is one way to tell if youre looking at a star or planet.

Answer 6

Star twinkling is also called stellar scintillation. Lights of stars that we see travelling to earth pass through thick layers of turbulent atmospheres causing the lights to bend or refracted and are seen to twinkle. Planets don't twinkle unlike the stars.

Answer 7

Well for one thing that is how you tell a planet from a star looking up from Earth stars twinkle planets don't , in our own solar system . So assuming you were on another planet in our solar system because obviously you wouldn't be able to see planets in ours from another with the naked eye it would not twinkle ?

Answer 8

Only stars twinkle planets do not. Similar to our moon which doesn't twinkle. Stars twinkle because thier radiation is irregular and other anomalies between us. Planets have a steady stream of light they reflect.

Answer 9

No planets don't twinkle. Stars tend to twinkle because they are out past the Asteroid Belt and the space dust / debris in between us and them distorts the view. Planets are in the clear space a lot closer to us so we have a clear view

Answer 10

Only Stars twinkle....planets don't. So, if you were on Neptune or something and you were looking at earth, it would NOT twinkle.