Why do stars twinkle and planets do not?

Answer 1

Actually.. stars do not twinkle.. it merely appears that way…. technically this is known as stellar scintillation and that is due to the very unromantic force known as atmospheric turbulence. Moving pockets of air in the Earth's atmosphere distort the light from the stars. These pockets of air act like lenses, refracting light in random directions and causing the stars to appear to "twinkle." … if you go to: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000725.html ... it will help to visualize the phenomena.
Stars on the horizon will appear to twinkle more than stars directly overhead. This is because the light has to pass through more of the Earth's atmosphere to reach your eye. The colors of a star are also affected by the refraction of the Earth's atmosphere. A star may appear to change colors rapidly due to atmospheric turbulence. Outside the Earth's atmosphere, the stars don't twinkle.
So why don't planets also "twinkle"? Well.. it is because there has not yet been any song written that says, Twinkle, Twinkle little planet… No just joking. Actually.. planets do not appear to twinkle because they are MUCH nearer to Earth than the stars. The planets appear much larger to us, so the "twinkling" effect of refracted light is not nearly as noticeable as it is with stars, which are so far away they appear to be only pinpoints of light. However, if the Earth's atmosphere is particularly turbulent, or you are using a powerful telescope, you may notice the planets doing a little twinkling of their own…. on this, see: http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=00099F92-F06A-1D47-90FB809EC5880000&catID=3

Answer 2

First, Stars produce their own light, planets do not. We see the sun's light reflecting off of the planets.

The light from the stars passes through the earth's atmosphere which is very turbulent. As the light passes through different currents and winds its apparent location seems to shift, which is why the stars "twinkle".

See below for a cool little mpeg about the effect.

Answer 3

Simple, stars are a lot farther away than planets, thus dimmer in most cases. Irregularities and mostly heat waves radiating from Earth pass in front of our view of the stars, creating twinkling.

Its the same thing as looking at a city from a distance. The heat radiating from the ground into the atmosphere causes the city lights to flicker. Its like watching a desert road on a really hot day. In the distance, you'll see heat being radiated and causing a wavy look.

Answer 4

Optically speaking, planets are "extended objects", while stars are "point objects". Our eyes and our telescopes are not able to optically discern a disk when viewing any of the stars except our own sun, because they're too far away. Atmospheric turbulence causes the ray of light from point-like objects to waver, which is now correctable by adaptive optics in very advanced telescopes. Light from extended objects like planets also wavers as well, but it is not as noticeable because it gets averaged out in an extended image. Careful analysis of even astronomical views of planets do show the "twinkle effect", which is why telescopes with adaptive optics is valuable for steady views of planets and nebulae.

Answer 5

A Star as sen from earth is a point source, while a planet has discernible extent. Due to atmospheric turbulence a point source appears wavering or twinkling. In a source that is spread out the twinkle is evened (averaged) out to make it look steady.

Answer 6

stars r light and planets aren't. when planets explode they turn into light. Something like that. See when a planet explodes it gives off a light that is what we see thats the star the planet exploding is the star. We see the light after the blows up.When we see the light from the planet it's not there anymore. It takes a while for the light 2 get here.

Answer 7

The twinkle is from the stars light passing thrugh irregularities in the atmospher. The planet light is softer (morre defused) and doesn't appear to twinkle.

Answer 8

Stars twinkle because of fluctuations in the earth's atmosphere.
Because they are farther away, less light from them reaches the earth. Therefore, the larger amount of light that is reflected from planets is "stronger" and does not waver.

Answer 9

It has to do with distance! Most star light has been traveling millions of years before you see it.

Answer 10

simple. a star is the sun at the center of a galaxy so the fire or what ever is burning "dances" while the plants dont burn