Software engineer at HCL technologies | Posted on
We all know that stars are those heavenly bodies who possess their own light. Many would think that this is the reason for their twinkle. But this is partially correct because stars do not twinkle actually. They appear to be twinkling to us because of a phenomenon.
The reason that stars appear to be twinkling to us is Atmospheric Refraction, which can be briefly explained as the bending of a ray of light when it enters from a medium of lower density to a medium of higher density.
( Courtesy : Earth Sky )
When light from stars enters the atmosphere of Earth, the density of air changes due to change in temperature, and other atmospheric reasons. This causes the light to undergo atmospheric refraction multiple times, due to which the star seems to be fluctuating to us, displaced from its actual position (just like a substance immersed in water seems displaced from its actual position). This makes the stars to appear like they are twinkling.
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