Why do stars twinkle and planets don't ? | Atmospheric Refraction

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Why do stars twinkle?

On a clear, dark night, we enjoy twinkling stars in the sky. They seem to twinkle or change their brightness, all the time. In fact, most of the stars are shining with a steady light.

Earth causes the starlight to get slightly bent as it travels from the distant star through the atmosphere down to us on the ground. This means that some of the light reaches us directly and some gets bent slightly away from our eyes, this makes the star seem to twinkle.

Do you know? that stars closer to the horizon will appear to twinkle more than other stars. This is because the distance is more between you and a star near the horizon than between you and a star higher in the sky.

Go out some night soon and have a look!