Why do stars appear higher than they actually are?
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It is because of refraction in the earth's atmosphere that the air density in the earth's atmosphere and also the index of refraction of the earth's atmosphere decrease with increasing altitude. According to Snellius' law of refraction, light is refracted towards the medium with higher index of refraction. Therefore, the light coming from a star, not situated directly above the observer, takes a curved path bent down towards the observer thus arriving at the observer at a steeper angle than it had travelled on a straight line.
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The light coming from the stars go through refraction while entering the Earth's atmosphere. There is actually an uneven temperature in the air because it changes at various altitudes. the refraction basically bends the light so the from the stars bends more and more towards the normal as it approaches our eye and we perceive it higher, as if path of the light is straight.
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