The twinkling stars

extract from my physics reference book

-light from the stars travel in straight lines through the vacuum of space


-when these light rays enter the Earth's atmosphere, they are refracted by layers of atmosphere of different densities. The densities of these layers of atmosphere are constantly changing, thus altering the path of the light rays.


-one moment the light rays are refracted in such a way that it reaches your eyes and the next moment they are not


-this produces the perception that the stars are twinkling.


-If one were to observe the same stars from space, they would not twinkle at all.

so the stars aren't my special twinkly friends after all. i hate physics.