Scintillation (astronomy) - Blinking stars - Twinkling stars

Scintillation or twinkling are generic terms for rapid variations in apparent brightness or color of a distant luminous object viewed through the atmosphere.

If the object lies outside the earth's atmosphere, as in the case of stars and planets, the phenomenon is termed astronomical scintillation; if the luminous source lies within the atmosphere, the phenomenon is termed terrestrial scintillation.

As one of the three principal factors governing astronomical seeing, scintillation is defined as variations in illuminance only, and so twinkling does not cause blurring of astronomical images. It is clearly established that almost all scintillation effects are caused by anomalous refraction caused by small-scale fluctuations in air density usually related to temperature gradients. Normal wind motion transporting such fluctuations across the observer's line of sight produces the irregular changes in intensity characteristic of scintillation. The primary cause of such small scale fluctuations is turbulent mixing of air with different temperatures.

Scintillation effects are always much more pronounced near the horizon than near the zenith (straight up). Parcels of the order of only centimeters to decimeters are believed to produce most of the scintillatory irregularities in the atmosphere. Atmospheric scintillation is measured quantitatively using a scintillometer.

Scintillation effects are reduced by using a larger receiver aperture. This effect is known as aperture averaging.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Scintillation
• (astronomy)
• Blinking
• stars
• Twinkling

[kparke01]

Hi, thanks for posting this video. I noticed a star just like thisin the night sky located near the Orion constellation. Was this one also located near Orion?

[marcozuffolato]

Hi, I really don't kno what constellation belongs that star...

[marcozuffolato]

Hi, it's a star in the Sky. It was the most lightly of those night. I have also some photos I did the same night on the same star. If you want I can send them to you.

[gangsta1arab]

is that a star in the sky or made off on a computer?

[marcozuffolato]

Hi, it's a star in the Sky. It was the most lightly of those night. I have also some photos I did the same night on the same star. If you want I can send them to you.

[heavenssecret]

i have several videos of these things blinking, more close up than this one too. its not a star i can tell you that much. there are several i see, about five, in the sky above me at night.

[sumstuff46]

when could you ever record a star on a video camera before/

These so called stars are very close, more like LIGHT ORBS, also you can use a cheap video camera record zoom and SLOW down video to see it is just a LIGHT ORB thats all and theres many of them some are constellations and they are moving up down left right in minutes ??

[fetsrala]

I feel like I notice stars blinking when there's a meteor shower. I remember last year I noticed stars blinking (not just one!) and I was like what's going on?! Then I saw that it was a meteor shower that night... Now I googled meteor showers 2011 so I wont miss it, and theres one this weekend and now I'm noticing the stars blinking again just like this video and just like I saw las tyear. I don't know why they blink though. I thought you'd be able to tell me.

[fstratzero]

@The30calboy scintillation

Probably a star. When I was focusing my telescope to a star near the horizon, it looked like a ball of colors. Like when you look into a kaleidoscope and spin the wheels really fast. Any ways it finally got sharp to the point where it was a color changing star due to the damn atmosphere.

[DeadDirtyKarny]

that star thing is in the sky but i dont by this i used this telescope on it an(the one by orions belt) and it appeared to be 2 smaller objects real close to each other.? that was a questionized statement, an yes i kno i dont spell good

[heavenssecret]

i noticed a few stars just like that in my sky a couple years ago. theyre still there. i have no idea what it could be. i have a few videos of them on here but theyre not publicly viewed.

[The30calboy]

Hey, i seen this star that was blinking green, white, blue, yellow, orange and a few others colors in a matter of milliseconds and it would change color very constantly. I thought it was a star but i went on Yahoo answers and people said it was a satellite or ISS. I know stars blink because of dust, but bliking different colors? That's kind of weird and it looked a lot like a ufo.

What do you think it might be?

[comentsuscribeonly]

i saw one of those about a month ago and i was like WTF IS THAT!!!but im only 12 so yeah

[blo0dyem0vvh0re]

@kparke01 that's the one i'm seeing tonight... near orion!

[cherrychuckles]

@ blahblahchachacha I saw a shooting star last night for probably the first time in my life. I thought it was a really fast moving plane (duh), but then it began to fade and then it was gone. I was wondering why it was moving so quickly and was so far away; my friend told me it was a shooting star. It was amazing.