What Causes the ‘Twinkling’ of Stars at Night?

Stars twinkle because the air in our atmosphere moves around. Imagine you're looking at a light through a wobbly piece of glass, it flickers, right? The same thing happens when we look up at stars. The hot and cold air in our sky makes the starlight bend and shift, giving that twinkling effect.

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Examples

A firefly in a jar twinkles because it's moving around inside the glass. Just like how stars twinkle through our wobbly air.
When you look at a light through a window on a windy day, it flickers. That’s just like looking up at the stars.
The sun seems to shimmer on a hot day because of the rising warm air near the ground. This is similar to how stars twinkle.

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Categories: Physics · Stars,Light,Atmosphere,Optics,Astronomy