Why stars have 5 petals?

On a cold January night, sharp stars radiate a sparkling light in the sky, while dawn, another similar planet - the sun - is red like a round fireball. .

Explain why the star has 5 wings

However, if you push that giant round ball away billions of billions of kilometers in the air, our sun will look like a sharp star in another night sky.

Picture 1 of Why stars have 5 petals?

If the stars are actually circular, why do they look like there are 5 wings? And why are they shining?

The culprit is the earth's atmosphere , bending the rays of far-flung stars before they reach our eyes. To imagine why stars become sharp, imagine a paved road at a hot summer afternoon. You can see the heat rising and the air on the asphalt waving faintly, causing trees, roads and cars in the front to dim.

Now think about the earth and the hot air hovering around. It is this chaotic atmosphere that makes light from distant stars sparkle and sparkle.

In fact, throughout the day, the earth's surface is heated by the sun. At night, the ground reflected the heat stored in the air. The air right on the ground will be heated and soar, mixed with the cold air above.

Starlight , on the way to the ground, passes through the thicker, colder air, to enter the thinner hot air layer at the bottom. When light passes through the turbulent atmosphere, it is bent when interacting with gas molecules. As a result we look at a star, its light jumps and the star becomes brighter and then fades away. This constant change in intensity creates a flicker.

When the stars are dim and sparkling, they become more pointed . So we don't see the star as its shape - a sphere shining like the sun.

But if you set foot on the moon , you will see a sky full of static bright spots, because our satellites have no atmosphere to play light with stars.