What phenomenon causes a star to appear to twinkle when seen from Earth's surface?
Light bending through Earth's atmosphere
The answer was Light bending through Earth's atmosphere. Here's the why, the decoys, and the source trail.
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Stars appear to twinkle because their light passes through layers of Earth's atmosphere with varying temperatures and densities, which bend and refract the light in constantly shifting ways. This effect, called astronomical scintillation, is why stars twinkle but planets — which appear as slightly larger discs — generally don't.
This answer is checked against NASA — Why Do Stars Twinkle?.
A good trivia question makes the wrong answers feel close. Here is the clean read on the set.
- The star is pulsating in size - a decoy; it may live near the same topic, but it does not answer this exact clue.
- Light bending through Earth's atmosphere - correct answer.
- Interference from cosmic dust - a decoy; it may live near the same topic, but it does not answer this exact clue.
- Solar wind distorting the light - a decoy; it may live near the same topic, but it does not answer this exact clue.
Light bending through Earth's atmosphere is the one to remember. Stars appear to twinkle because their light passes through layers of Earth's atmosphere with varying temperatures and densities, which bend and refract the light in constantly shifting ways. The Hubble Space Telescope orbits above Earth's atmosphere, which is one reason its images of stars are so sharp and steady — no atmospheric twinkling to blur the view.
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Sources: NASA