Why Are Stars Twinkling in the Sky?

Stars seem to twinkle because their light has to travel all the way through space and then through Earth's atmosphere before it reaches our eyes.

Imagine you're trying to see a friend who is far away, but there’s a wobbly glass of water between you. The water makes the image look shaky, that's like what happens with stars!

Earth's atmosphere is like a moving blanket made of different layers. These layers are constantly shifting and changing temperature. When starlight passes through them, it gets bent or bounced around, making the star appear to twinkle.

It’s just like when you look at something through a shaky window, sometimes it looks bigger, sometimes smaller, and sometimes it blinks in and out of view!

Some stars twinkle more than others. That's because their light has to go through more layers or the layers are moving faster. It’s like some friends have to shout across a room with lots of people walking back and forth, their voice gets all mixed up!