2007-09-27 03:45:29 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Atmospheric distortion, which is the same thing that makes house and street lights in a town flicker when seen from a moderate distance.
2007-09-30 21:02:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
All stars, with the exception of the Sun, appear to flicker (or, scintillate, as the scientific community calls it) because of atmospheric turbulence.
At such great distances, we can only see stars as pinpoints, and the movement of currents in our atmosphere is enough to perturb these very tiny light sources.
Planets have a larger apparent angular size than the stars, due to our proximity to them, so their images (to the naked eye) do not appear to be affected.
Turbulence does affect the images of planets though, as anyone who has ever looked through the eyepiece of a telescope can tell you. This is known as 'seeing'.
2007-09-27 11:12:16 · answer #2 · answered by Bobby 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All stars flicker due to fluctuations in the earth's atmosphere. The planets do not as they are big enough (the light from them is big enough) to not be disturbed by these fluctuation.
2007-09-27 10:54:12 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hi. The beam of light is so small (the same as your pupil if you look with one eye) that even a tiny disruption to the air 'bends' the beam.
2007-09-27 10:49:49 · answer #4 · answered by Cirric 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
bobby's got it.
also some stars do pulse and change brightness over a period of time, this is just due to the size and make up of the star itself.
2007-09-27 14:21:46 · answer #5 · answered by Tim C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because of the dust particles in the atmosphere. so, when the stars' light enters the atmosphere, it appears to be blinking because of the dust particles.
2007-09-27 10:54:57 · answer #6 · answered by M G 1 · 0⤊ 3⤋
We are looking at them through our own planet's atmosphere.
2007-09-29 18:23:01 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋