why planets do not twinkle

Hi ,

 

Twinkling of celestial bodies is caused by the scattering of light in the earth’s atmosphere. The stars appear as twinkling point sources of light because they are very far from earth.

Planets are very close to us as compared to the distance between stars and earth. They appear as small discs of light (the reflected light from the sun). Each tiny point in this disc can be considered as point sources of light. These different points produce either brighter or dimmer effect in such a way that the average of brighter and dimmer effect is zero. Hence, the twinkling effects of the planets are nullified and they do not twinkle.

In a very turbulent weather a planet may appear to twinkle because of the disturbance in the air through which the light is travelling.

 

Hope this answers your query.

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