• Question: Why do stars twinkle?

    Asked by j3llybean to Asif, Laura, Lena, Sean, Viv on 15 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by charlottebrown1234, tonks1998, monkeyboii.
    • Photo: Sean Murphy

      Sean Murphy answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Stars twinkle because of turbulence in the atmosphere of the Earth. As the atmosphere churns, the light from the star is refracted in different directions. This causes the star’s image to change slightly in brightness and position, hence “twinkle.”

    • Photo: Laura Waters

      Laura Waters answered on 15 Mar 2012:

      Good answer Sean 🙂

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