Imagine you're looking at a candle through a wobbly glass of water. The flame flickers and changes shape because the water is moving around it. Stars twinkle for a similar reason, their light travels through Earth’s air, which is always moving. When the air moves, the starlight bends in different ways, making the stars appear to shimmer or blink.
Examples
- A candle flame seems to dance when you look at it through a moving stream of water.
- A flashlight beam flickers as it passes through a wobbly jar filled with oil.
- A distant car light appears to blink more as it moves closer to the horizon.
See also
- What If We Could Live on Mars?
- What's the Difference Between a Comet and an Asteroid?
- Why Do We See the Same Side of the Moon?
- How Does a Mirror Work Exactly?
- What If the Moon Was Made of Cheese?
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Categories: Space · Stars· Atmosphere· Light · Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.