Loren Booda said:Stars twinkle because our atmosphere's turbulence causes these point-like bodies to scintillate, whereas planets supposedly appear large enough not to twinkle. Is Pluto (a distant and small planetoid) enough of a point to twinkle as seen from Earth?
Why does it appear that there are two images of Charon in the photos - is that due to diffraction?twofish-quant said:Here are some pictures of Pluto "twinkling"
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1987A&A...174..295B/0000297.000.html
What you can do with Pluto is to take lots of short observation of the planet twinkling, and then run them through some mathematics to get the shape of Pluto and its moon Charon.
For everyone's info, that's probably a good number for an average day, but it can be worse or better, probably on a range of 0.1 to 2 arcsec 90% of the time.mgb_phys said:Planets don't twinkle because they are several times bigger than the size of the atmospheric distortion (1arc sec), pluto is smaller than this
Don't actually know, sorry - I just pulled a few out of the air, plus looked a wiki for the question.Vanadium 50 said:Russ, what's the star with the largest angular diameter as seen from earth? Gamma Crucis perhaps? It's rather large and quiet close.
The twinkling phenomenon, also known as scintillation, is the fluctuation in brightness of a celestial body as observed from Earth. It is caused by the Earth's atmosphere, which refracts the light from the object, creating variations in the perceived brightness.
The twinkling phenomenon of Pluto and planets is different from stars because stars are much farther away from Earth and their light passes through multiple layers of the atmosphere, causing a more intense and rapid twinkling effect. In contrast, Pluto and planets are closer to Earth and their light passes through less atmosphere, resulting in a slower and less intense twinkling.
The amount of twinkling observed from a planet depends on its distance from Earth, its size, and its surface characteristics. Planets that are closer to Earth, such as Venus, will appear to twinkle more than those that are farther away, such as Saturn. Additionally, planets with smoother surfaces, like Jupiter, will have less twinkling compared to those with rougher surfaces, like Mars.
Yes, the twinkling phenomenon of Pluto and planets can be seen with the naked eye, although it may be more difficult to observe in highly light-polluted areas. It is best viewed on a clear, dark night when the planets are high in the sky and away from the horizon.
Yes, the twinkling phenomenon can affect the data collected by telescopes, especially for objects that are closer to the horizon. This is why astronomers often use adaptive optics or other techniques to correct for the twinkling effect and obtain clearer images and data.