Can you tell me if stars really twinkel and why?
By IL2Knit
@IL2Knit (1141)
United States
August 3, 2007 12:00am CST
Do the stars really twinkel? Or does it just seem that way to us here on earth? I've heard that the stars we see aren't even there any more. I don't get it. If they are dead why doesn't the light stop? How do they know the star is dead? They arn't there to see it. If I have a flash light and turn it on you can see the light. When I turn the flash light off you can't see the light any more. I just don't get it. Can you tell me?
3 responses
@wdiong (1815)
• Singapore
3 Aug 07
Stars twinkle when we see them from the Earth's surface because we are viewing them through thick layers of turbulent (moving) air in the Earth's atmosphere.
Stars (except for the Sun) appear as tiny dots in the sky; as their light travels through the many layers of the Earth's atmosphere, the light of the star is bent (refracted) many times and in random directions (light is bent when it hits a change in density - like a pocket of cold air or hot air). This random refraction results in the star winking out (it looks as though the star moves a bit, and our eye interprets this as twinkling).
@santuccie (3384)
• United States
3 Aug 07
Very good, wdiong! This makes perfect sense to me, just as the way water and prisms bend light. + from me! :)
1 person likes this
@williamjisir (22819)
• China
3 Aug 07
I am afraid that I am unable to tell you why. But I hope that you will soon get the answer from the other responses. Thanks.
1 person likes this
@4ftfingers (1310)
•
8 Sep 07
It's the way that light takes so long to travel down to us through space.
They measure long distance through space, a light year is the distance it takes light to travel over a period of one year.
If aliens that are 200 million light years away can see our planet right at this moment. They wouldn't be seeing us, they would be looking at Dinosours 200 million years ago. Isn't that wierd?
1 person likes this
