Why Stars Twinkle
The sun is the nearest star to earth and it does not twinkle. Stars only appear to twinkle. The stars that shine at night and the sun that shines in the day are the same kind of objects.
A star is a ball of hot gases that shine from its own light. The light is produced in the stars interior by nuclear burning. Twinkling is the result of movement in the atmosphere. The air between the star and the earth is unsteady. This air bends the light shining from the star and makes a twinkling motion.
The brightest star that you can see in the Northern Hemisphere is Sirius. Sirius is also famous for appearing in different colors. This could look like the twinkling colored lights at holiday season.
We could argue that a sunset is a beautiful “twinkle?” Particles of dust in the upper air reflect the sun’s rays. The different colors which make up the suns light are bent at different angles as they are reflected by the dust and water vapor particles. This makes its light visible on earth an hour or two after sunset. Sunsets are red because these particles bend the red rays of the sun.
Sunset is brighter than sunrise. The atmosphere has been exposed to the suns rays for many hours. The levels of dust particulars are higher at the end of the day than at sunrise. The increasing wind and turbulence moves dust and soot around in the air. This enhances the red and orange colors at sunset. Sometimes a green flash can be seen at sunset or sunrise. This could be a rainbow twinkle.
The outer part of the sun called the corona is light, gaseous matter. This corona has streamers that extend millions of miles from the sun. These streamers affect the way the sun shines or twinkles.
Could a big twinkle be the “aurora borealis? The electrical energy released from a sunspot, sends beams of negative electrons into space. These electrons enter the earth’s atmosphere and produce effects such as Northern Lights.
The auroras are a light show in the sky. It is often greenish or sometimes light red. It might appear as if the sun was rising in the wrong spot.
The Milky Way is a galaxy of over 200 billion stars. The brightest stars are in its central location. Our sun is located in one of the smaller extensions. The stars gas and dust make up a huge cloud. You can only imagine the beauty on a clear night when a twinkling concert is playing in the Milky Way.
