how do stars glitter?is it due to refraction?

Answer 1

[Edit]:
I like how on these questions someone always goes through and gives the thumbs down to all the right answers. Whoever gave the thumbs down to those of us who answered because of the atmosphere and refraction, do some research.

ie Squidge and Toby.

[Original Post]

The earth's atmosphere is constantly shifting gases and particles, which block/bend/refract light just enough to make it seem like stars glitter. In space, which is a vacuum, they'd be solid lights.

Answer 2

Obviously people are interpreting this question in two different ways. Way 1: "Why do stars shine?"; Way 2: "Why do stars 'twinkle'"? I guess the word "glitter" could be taken either way.

My interpretation is the 2nd.

It is due to refraction. The density of the air fluctuates quickly on a small scale, and this makes its index of refraction fluctuate too, which in turn causes the light rays to bend slightly. Sometimes the fluctuation will cause some light rays to momentarily converge (like a magnifying glass), and that will momentarily make the star look brighter. In the next instant, the light rays may diverge, making the star look dimmer. As this happens over and over, the star twinkles. Also, the refraction of white light tends to separate it out into multiple colors (like the way a prism makes a spectrum); so the refracted beam that hits our eye may be red one instant, and the next beam may be blue. So the star appears to twinkle in different colors.

The greater distance a light ray has to travel through the atmosphere, the greater the chance that it will be bent from its original course due to these fluctuations. That is why stars near the horizon seem to twinkle more than those high in the sky--the horizon starlight has many more miles of atmosphere to travel through.

The effect is also amplified on hot nights, because thermal convection currents increase the density fluctuations in the air.

Answer 3

Stars get their heat from two sources - gravity, and
nuclear fusion. When stars initially form from large balls
of gas, they contract under the influence of gravity, and
heat up because that gravitational energy goes into the
motion of the gas. Once they get hot enough, the hydrogen
nuclei in the plasma in the center of the star start to
occasionally merge to form helium, releasing a lot of energy
from that nuclear fusion process. All this heating, from
both sources, creates a pressure that causes the star to
quit contracting at some point. If the star is big enough to
start with, the central temperature will be high enough to
really keep that fusion going, and the heat gradually will
seep out to the outside parts of the star, so the outer
surface regions will also rise to quite high temperatures.
It is the temperature of the outer surface that determines the
way the stars shine - our sun has an outer temperature of around
5000 degrees, but other stars can be as hot as 50,000 degrees,
producing much bluer light, while red dwarf stars are considerably
cooler and produce mostly red and infrared light.

Answer 4

Stars glow due to energy produced by nuclear fusion at their core. When their light reaches the earth it has to pass through the atmosphere to reach us. The atmosphere has many layers of different densities which cause this light to bend. As a result of this they appear to twinkle to us.

Answer 5

Ever notice how a coin at the bottom of a swimming pool seems to wobble from side to side? This phenomenon occurs because the water in the pool bends the path of light from the coin. Similarly, stars twinkle because their light has to pass through several miles of Earth's atmosphere before it reaches the eye of an observer. It's as if we're looking up at the universe from the bottom of a swimming pool. Our atmosphere is very turbulent, with streams and eddies forming, churning around and dispersing all the time. These disturbances act like lenses and prisms that shift the incoming light from a star from side to side by minute amounts several times a second. For large objects like the moon, these deviations average out. Stars, in contrast, are so far away that they effectively act as point sources, and the light we see flickers in intensity as the incoming beams bend rapidly from side to side.

Answer 6

Yup!! Atmospheric refraction! Since the stars are soooooo far away, they are what we call "point sources of light" and since they are so far away, there will be variations( or disturbance) in the amount of light entering our eyes .....do u follow? They DONT actually twinkle!!

We can only see objects if light falls on them and bounces back to our eyes!

Please be free to e-mail me if more doubt arises on this topic.

Mr. A here's got a good point!

Answer 7

Stars "glitter" or twinkle because of the Earth's atmosphere. In the vacuum of space, stars do not twinkle.

Answer 8

stars do not actually glitter.. but they appear 2 glitter or twinkle....i'll try 2 explain d reason 4 dis as i know.... :
earth's atmosphere consists of different layers having different refractive indices. stars produce der own light.. as d light rays from a star enter earth's atmosphere dey undergo refraction/bending as dey cross d boundary of each layer. d final refracted ray reaching our eye causes us 2 c d star at a different position. now, d gases in our atmosphere are in constant motion and der density too keep on changing, ie, der refractiv index keeps on changing... hence d angle of refractn of d ray reaching our eye keeps on changing. therefore, d position where v c d star keeps on changing... since dis happens quite fast, d star appears 2 b twinkling..

i hope i'm clear.... does tat answer ur question?

Answer 9

A star shines because nuclear fusion in its core releases energy which traverses the star's interior and then radiates into outer space. Almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created inside the cores of stars.

Answer 10

No, they just reflect the light rays of the sun to us. Due to which they seems to be glittering