Question

why stars seem higher than they are?

Answer 1

This is due to atmospheric refraction i.e bending of the light.This light's refraction continues till it reaches the Earth's surface.The light travels in different speeds and the speed-est in vacuum.This speed depends upon a property called Refractive Index of a medium.Therefore the light bends more and more as it approaches our eyes, and we perceive it higher.

There is a lott to say in this but i have given a brief explanation so i hope understand this and it helps u......................................^_^

Answer 2

Stars are independent source of light situated very far away from earth light from a star travel first in vacuum and then enters into earth 's atmosphere. As optical density of air increases towards the surface of earth, therefore ,light from the star travel from rarer to denser layers,bending every time towards normal on producing the final refracted ray backwards, the apparent star position B is higher than the actual star position A.