2024-09-15 00:43:54
When we look at the night sky, we can see thousands of starsSome are very bright, while others are dimmer. However, they all have one thing in common: They seem to flash intermittently But then why doesn’t the same thing happen with the visible planets from the surface?
The answer to this question is related to the Earth’s atmosphere, a layer of gases that surrounds our planet. It is composed primarily of nitrogen and oxygen, but also contains other gases, such as water vapor, carbon dioxide and ozone.
Why do stars twinkle?
Starlight travels through the Earth’s atmosphere before reaching our eyes. As the light passes through the atmosphere, it is refracted or bent because this structure is not homogeneous and experiences changes in pressure and temperature at certain points.
Thus, when the light of a star passes through the atmosphere, is refracted differently in different parts; this is how the twinkling effect occurs, NASA says.
This effect, however, would not occur from the surface of Mars, which, for example, has a much thinner atmosphere than Earth (1% of its thickness), according to the Astronomy portal. Of course, on such a world, the drawback would be the abundant presence of dust particles.
On some special days, the visible planets manage to align in the sky. Photo: Bob King
Why don’t planets blink?
The planets visible from Earth (Mercurio, Venus, Marte, Saturn y Jupiter) do not blink because they are closer to the Earth than the stars we see in the sky.
This happens because the amount of light reflected by its surface is less affected by atmospheric refraction.