Explain atmospheric refraction? why stars twinkle but planets dont?
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As a star's light pierces our atmosphere, each single stream of starlight is refracted – caused to change direction, slightly – by the various temperature and density layers in Earth's atmosphere. ... Planets shine more steadily because … they're closer to Earth and so appear not as pinpoints, but as tiny disks in our sky.
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- Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. ... Astronomical or celestial refraction causes astronomical objects to appear higher above the horizon than they actually are.
- Unlike stars, planets don't twinkle. Stars are so distant that they appear as pinpoints of light in the night sky, even when viewed through a telescope. Because all the light is coming from a single point, its path is highly susceptible to atmospheric interference (i.e. their light is easily diffracted).
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