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Twinkling Stars Due to the Earth’s Atmospheric Motions

-- Fabby | August 16, 2020

Question:

I keep seeing stars move and disappear. I live in New Hampshire where the skies are very clear and I have on several occasions, caught brighter-looking stars than others move side to side glow dimmer and then bright again and then disappear. Can someone please explain what this is?

-- Fabby

Answer:

Very likely what you are seeing is the Earth’s atmosphere along the path from you to the star moving around. Collections of moisture in the atmosphere which are not as opaque as clouds but have enough water in them to cause light from stars to bend and/or dim when it passes through them can cause the effects you describe. For more accounts of such phenomena you can search for “unexplained celestial observations” in this blog.

-- Jeff Mangum

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