Why does a 5-pointed star twinkle in the sky?

Sparkling and pointed bright star

The reason for this is that the rays of distant stars are bent by the earth's atmosphere before they reach our eyes.

To make it easier to imagine, remember the image of a paved road on a hot summer afternoon. When you do, you can see the trees, the road, and the cars ahead look hazy because of the heat rising and the air over the asphalt is faint.

The surface of the Earth is illuminated by the sun all day. When at night, the heat on the ground evaporates, heating the air and rising. The earth, surrounded by hot air, made the light from distant stars shimmer and sparkle.

Light can travel in a straight line, move in a particle or wave form. When hitting an object, the light waves bounce back and bend around creating patterns. So when we squint, we see light sources that look like they have sharp angles.

Why 5

The vitreous fibers in the human eye have seams. When light passes through the lens, it will meet the seams and the image will appear as a sphere with 5 wings. In addition, everyone's eyes are different, so the stars look different to each person.

David Pac

Update 07 April 2023