Why stars are appeared to be twinkling at night?

Asked by Last Modified  

11 Answers

Follow 0
Answer

Please enter your answer

Excellence Award Winner ( 7 times )

The twinkling of stars in our night sky is down to the Earth's atmosphere. As light from the stars travels towards Earth it can easily move in a straight line, but once it starts travelling through the Earth's atmosphere it gets bounced around in different directions by the particles in the air.
Comments

English Expert

Stars twinkle because … they’re so far away from Earth that, even through large telescopes, they appear only as pinpoints. And it’s easy for Earth’s atmosphere to disturb the pinpoint light of a star. As a star’s light pierces our atmosphere, each single stream of starlight is refracted -- caused to...
read more
Stars twinkle because … they’re so far away from Earth that, even through large telescopes, they appear only as pinpoints. And it’s easy for Earth’s atmosphere to disturb the pinpoint light of a star. As a star’s light pierces our atmosphere, each single stream of starlight is refracted – caused to change direction, slightly – by the various temperature and density layers in Earth’s atmosphere. You might think of it as the light traveling a zig-zag path to our eyes, instead of the straight path the light would travel if Earth didn’t have an atmosphere. Planets shine more steadily because … they’re closer to Earth and so appear not as pinpoints, but as tiny disks in our sky. You’d could see planets as disks if you looked through a telescope, while stars would remain pinpoints. The light from these little disks is also refracted by Earth’s atmosphere, as it travels toward our eyes. But – while the light from one edge of a planet’s disk might be forced to ā€œzigā€ one way – light from the opposite edge of the disk might be ā€œzaggingā€ in an opposite way. The zigs and zags of light from a planetary disk cancel each other out, and that’s why planets appear to shine steadily. read less
Comments

Experienced Mathematics com ECE Educator

Since there are many layers air medium with different permittivities, light travelling through different layers get refracted and seems to be twinkling at night.
Comments

revival

Refraction of light coming from the stars is the reason: As light enters into our environment, there are many layers of environment in which density of air varies due to this refraction occurs which led to twinkling of stars
Comments

high school tutor, sketch artist

due to refraction of light that travels through different mediums before reaching to our eyes
Comments

NEET Coaching

Due to refraction of light
Comments

Simplified Maths and Science

Because the light from the stars travel through multiple medium, and refracts every time it passes from one to other, which changes the angle of the travel, giving a twinkling effect.
Comments

PM Classes

due to many layers of gases into atmosphere
Comments

Physics Subject Expert

The stars are appeared to be twinkling because of atmospheric refraction. When light from the stars enter into the atmosphere it refracts multiple times due to the various layers of atmosphere which has variable optical density for each layer.
Comments

Concept Guru

as the light from enters in the atmosphere of earth , it undergoes continuous refraction because of different layers of gases of with varying densities
Comments

View 9 more Answers

Related Questions

What is molecular mass?
Molecular mass or molecular weight refers to the mass of a molecule. It is calculated as the sum of the mass of each constituent atom multiplied by the number of atoms of that element in the molecular formula.
Ravi Ranjan
0 0
8
what is the role of health in human capital formation?
The role of health in formation of human capital is vital. Unless a population is healthy enough to work and earn, the society will remain backward. Only strong and healthy people can struggle and survive...
Rajmohan
0 0
9
Find the value of (sin°45- cos°45)
here sin45=1/squareroot of 2 cos45=1/squareroot of 2 since sin45=cos45 => sin45-cos45=0
Jagadeesh
0 0
5

Now ask question in any of the 1000+ Categories, and get Answers from Tutors and Trainers on UrbanPro.com

Ask a Question

Related Lessons

Why is 2 not a composite number?
A composite number is a positive integer that can be formed by multiplying together two smaller positive integers. Equivalently, it is a positive integer that has at least one divisor other than 1 and...

learning is fun ,,,teaching is just showing a student how to enjoy it .
teaching-finding effective ways to make learning fun for the child
G

Mark Based Time Management in Public exams
One of the important aspect in answering in Public exams: Mark Based Time Management Most of the students do not plan out how much time to spend on various questions. They try to attend questions in...

Reading Techniques
Basic Reading Techniques: There are many steps for preparing to study a theory question. First you have read that once fully dont bother if you are not able to understand. Then split that...

Lighting Fast Way To Find Square Of A Number
To find squares of numbers near to bases i.e numbers near to 10/100/1000.. we can use Yavadunam Tavadunikritya Varganca Yojayet.Rule: whatever the deficiency from the base, subtract that deficit from the...

Recommended Articles

Quest Academy is a professional Bangalore based NEET and JEE (Main + Advanced) training institute. The academy was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the needs of students, who aim to crack competitive exams by connecting with the best brains around. The institute helps students enhance their skills and capabilities through...

Read full article >

Swati is a renowned Hindi tutor with 7 years of experience in teaching. She conducts classes for various students ranging from class 6- class 12 and also BA students. Having pursued her education at Madras University where she did her Masters in Hindi, Swati knows her way around students. She believes that each student...

Read full article >

Raghunandan is a passionate teacher with a decade of teaching experience. Being a skilled trainer with extensive knowledge, he provides high-quality BTech, Class 10 and Class 12 tuition classes. His methods of teaching with real-time examples makes difficult topics simple to understand. He explains every concept in-detail...

Read full article >

Mohammad Wazid is a certified professional tutor for class 11 students. He has 6 years of teaching experience which he couples with an energetic attitude and a vision of making any subject easy for the students. Over the years he has developed skills with a capability of understanding the requirements of the students. This...

Read full article >

Looking for Class 10 Tuition ?

Learn from the Best Tutors on UrbanPro

Are you a Tutor or Training Institute?

Join UrbanPro Today to find students near you