What would make a star flash red and blue?

[Liger20]

Hello, several nights ago I was outside looking at the sky. I noticed this strange looking star near the horizon, and I swear to you, it kept flashing from red to blue and back. I vaguely remember reading something about this, but I don't quite remember what it was.

 

[chemisttree]

Atmospheric distortion causes the light to spread out into its various colors. Bad seeing close to the horizon that night.

 

[tacman]

There are a few different reasons why a star may appear to flash red and blue. One possibility is that the star is actually a binary star system, meaning there are two stars orbiting each other closely. As the stars move in their orbit, they may appear to alternate between red and blue due to their different temperatures and spectral classes.

Another possibility is that the star is experiencing what is known as "scintillation," or atmospheric twinkling. This is caused by turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, which can cause the star's light to appear to flicker and change color. This effect is more noticeable when the star is near the horizon, as the light has to travel through more of the atmosphere to reach our eyes.

Lastly, it is also possible that the star you saw was actually a planet, such as Mars or Jupiter, which can appear to twinkle and change color due to their close proximity to Earth. Planets have a different appearance than stars, so it is possible that what you saw was actually a planet rather than a star.

Overall, there are several possible explanations for a star appearing to flash red and blue. It could be a binary star system, atmospheric scintillation, or a planet. It's always exciting to see unusual things in the night sky, and I hope this helps explain what you may have seen!