OCR Text |
Show WHAT MAKES STARS TWINKLE Scientists Explain That the Rays of Light From Them Are Bent by Our Atmosphere. Tho question of childhood, "What makes the stars twInkloT" was nn-Bwored nn-Bwored probably by a bit of verso or poetic fancy. Hut men nBklng tho samo question sought scientific explanation ex-planation nnd found It. Although wo Hvo upon its surfaco, wo aro not on tho outsldo of tho earth, but at tho bottom of tho sea of air which forms tho earth's outermost layer and extends nbovo our heads to a height of many miles, snys n Unl- ! vorslty of Wisconsin press bulletin. Wo cannot sco th stars snvo as wo I look through this atmosphere nnd tho light which comes through It Is I bent nnd oftentimes distorted so ns to i present serious obstncles to nny nccu- ' rato telescopic study of tho heavenly bodies. 1 Frequently this disturbance Is vls- lblo to tho nnked oyo, and tho stnrs aro said to twinkle namely, to qulv- I or and chnngo color many times n second, solely In consequenco of n disturbed condition of tho air and not from anything which goes on In tho star. This effect Is moro marked low down In tho sky than In tho zenith. It Is worth noting that the planets show very llttlo of It bt causo tho light they send to each comts from a disk of sensible area, whllo a star, bolng much further from tho earth, has Us disk reduced practically to a moro point whoso light Is moro easily affected by local disturbances In tho atmoBphcro than In the broader beam which comes from tho planet's disk. At all times, whether tho stars twinklo or not, their light Is bent in its passage through tho atmosphere bo that tho stars appear to stand higher high-er up In tho sky than their truo positions. |