What is the correct reason for blinking / flickering of stars? Explain it. a) The blasts in the stars. b) Absorption of star light by the atmosphere. c) Motion of the stars. d) Changing refractive index of gases in the atmosphere.
Answers
The twinkling of stars in our night sky is down to the Earth’s atmosphere. As light from the stars travels towards Earth it can easily move in a straight line, but once it starts travelling through the Earth’s atmosphere it gets bounced around in different directions by the particles in the air.
For astronomers this twinkling can be a huge problem, especially when they’re trying to accurately image a particular star. The more the star twinkles, the blurrier the image will be.
If telescopes are launched into space then all images can be taken without Earth’s atmosphere in the way, but this is expensive. It is possible to use a system called ‘adaptive optics’, when tiny motors alter the surface of the telescope’s mirror to correct for this blur caused by the air
as gases are moving here and there in are atmosphere so light which is reflected by stars passes through sometimes more denser , or lighter , which causes changes in refraction or refractive index , therefore it camera to be twinkling. Here in the diagram we see that apparent position of star changes and thus we see twinkling.
