• Question: Why do stars twinkle?

    Asked by camel12 to Mike, Pip, Tim, Tom on 4 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      The stars don’t actually twinkle. What happens is that the light is affected by currents in the atmosphere (like the shimmering you see on a road on a summer’s day). This is why observatories are put on top of mountains — there’s less atmosphere between them and space, so the shimmering is less.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      great answer Tim

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