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Showerthought: my daughter asked why stars twinkle, and I finally looked it up at 41
My 7 year old and I were out in the backyard in Springfield two Fridays ago with the cheap telescope I got at a garage sale, and she pointed at Sirius and asked why it was blinking at her. I gave her some made up answer about the star being tired, then felt bad and looked it up after she went to bed. Turns out it is the air in our own sky bending the light around, not the star doing anything at all, and I read that telescopes in space like Hubble get around this because there is no air up there to mess with. Now every clear night she asks me to check if things are twinkling or steady, and I guess steady means better viewing, but I am still figuring out which nights are worth dragging the scope out. Anyone here have a simple rule for telling a good seeing night from a bad one before you haul everything outside?
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fisher.mason6d ago
Did you know the whole twinkle thing gets worse the lower a star is in the sky? That was the piece that finally made it click for me. In my experience, the best nights are the ones where you can barely see any stars at all near the horizon, because that usually means the air is calm and steady. Around here I just step out and look at Sirius myself, if it is flashing colors like a little disco ball, I do not even bother with the scope. If it sits there fairly steady, that is my green light. Your mileage may vary depending on where you are, but that trick has saved me a lot of trips hauling stuff in and out.
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