2007-03-14 11:57:15 · 10 answers · asked by elbow1611 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The effect that you're referring to is known more officially as 'scintillation'. It is almost entirely caused by slight fluctuations in the density of the atmosphere, and the movement of those fluctuations by wind force and the like.
When light crosses into a more or less dense material, it tends to bend. Thus you lose a little bit of the light that was otherwise coming from the star or planet, and it looks dimmer.
The effect works on just about any light coming through the atmosphere... it's just less noticeable on larger objects (like the sun) than smaller ones (like stars). It's also more pronounced on the horizon than at the zenith, because of the amount of atmosphere the light has to travel through.
2007-03-14 12:05:34 · answer #1 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Planets can twinkle, but usually not as much or as easily as stars. Basically it because planets present a larger apparent disk. The Moon and Sun might shimmer around the edges, but that does not look like twinkling. Planets have disks too small to see without a telescope but still bigger than stars and so they "shimmer" around the edges without making a real twinkling effect. But the shimmering on most nights is bigger than the whole apparent disk of a star which results in the total brightness of the star appearing to vary.
2007-03-14 19:03:19 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Stars twinkle because we are viewing them through thick layers of turbulent air in the Earth's atmosphere.
Planets don't usually twinkle because they are so close to us; they appear big enough that the twinkling is not noticeable except when the air is extremely turbulent.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/stars/twinkle.shtml
2007-03-14 19:02:28 · answer #3 · answered by Bad Kitty! 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Stars cannot be resolved as disks -- just points of light. Any atmospheric disturbance causes them to twinkle. Since planets can be seen as disks in a telescope, the distortion has to be broader, but if the atmosphere is sufficiently disturbed, they, too, will twinkle.
2007-03-14 19:02:15 · answer #4 · answered by novangelis 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Stars are made of heat (fire)--like our SUN which isactually a star too. Planets do twinkle also, if you look up and seem to find a bright twinkling star (brightest actually), it's VENUS.
2007-03-14 18:59:59 · answer #5 · answered by JoeySmith 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure that planets don't twinkle. But if they don't, it would be because their light is spread over a much larger portion of the sky and is much dimmer for its area (although they look just as point-like as stars to our inaccurate human eyes).
2007-03-14 18:59:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, some planets twinkle too. It has to do with the gases in the planet or stars atmosphere and how their light breaks through our atmosphere.
2007-03-14 19:00:43 · answer #7 · answered by AnswerGirl 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
In fact, they both do.... but the fainter the star, the more likely it is to 'twinkle.' The brighter & bigger an object appears, the less likely it is to 'twinkle.'
2007-03-14 19:16:27 · answer #8 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stars are suns and therefore are a source of light. Planets just reflect whatever light reaches them.
2007-03-14 18:59:38 · answer #9 · answered by Older&Wiser 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Wrong. They all appear to twinkle and its just pollution and the atmosphere distorting the light.
2007-03-14 18:59:23 · answer #10 · answered by fleetofworlds 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋