JAKARTA, iNews.id – You must have seen the twinkle often star in the night sky when it is clear. All because a blanket of nitrogen, oxygen, and other gases keeps the world’s temperature nice and habitable. The gas also protects humans from harmful UV radiation.
However, despite its many good qualities, the atmosphere can be a nuisance to astronomy fans. Why is that? This is because the atmosphere distorts the light at night, thus making the atmosphere of some celestial bodies appear twinkling and glittering.
The technical term for this phenomenon is astronomical sparkle. You may know it by the name twinkling. Like onions, the atmosphere is made up of layers. At the bottom is the troposphere, which begins here at the Earth’s ground level.
Then, about 5 to 9 miles up, that’s where most of Earth’s weather events occur. The other layers are the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. There is also a region called the ionosphere, which includes the mesosphere and the thermosphere.
These layers have different temperatures. In addition, the density of air varies from one level to another. As starlight enters the atmosphere, it flows into pockets of cool and warm air.
The pouch acts as a large lens, causing light to change direction or refract as it passes through it. However, the lens does not stay in place. They move and change shape, as quoted from How to Stuff Work.
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