Star is blinking. Arcturus, Capella.

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I was looking on Arcturus in Bootes constellation today, (+-half an hour ago) It was blinking in different colors, like red, orange.
I look at another star, Capella, Auriga constellation, it was similar.

Do you guys observe it ?

I use this app usually (SkyView Free or SkyView Iite) Maybe there some others app that you find useful, please share it; I have a satelite tracker also

 

[Claus]

I see that all the time, that stars do that, it is totaly normal.

 

[mkrnhr]

Was it low on the horizon at your location? It is due to relatively strong turbulence effects in the atmosphere. Usually it's perceived as a simple twinkling of the stars but sometimes (one can think of hot and cold pockets of air acting as prisms) the colors are differentiated and one sees different colors.
As an example, here is creative shot of Sirius changing colors as the camera moves around during 2sec.

 

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I have been observing this blinking before. But that day it was blinking really "much"
Arcturus was on the "first place" of blinking. Capella on the second.
Yeah, they were above the horizon and there were different colours, sort of like on the picture you shared.
The red line is horizon on the pictures I've attached.

 

[Pearce]

I actually noticed both those stars a couple of nights ago doing exactly what you described. They definitely stood out in the sky.

 

[Ghazi18]

Was it low on the horizon at your location? It is due to relatively strong turbulence effects in the atmosphere. Usually it's perceived as a simple twinkling of the stars but sometimes (one can think of hot and cold pockets of air acting as prisms) the colors are differentiated and one sees different colors.

Thanks for your comment! I observed this as well on a star that was very low on the horizon ( do not know which constellation it was but it did appear to be a lone star). It would blink mainly red and blue and it caught my eye due to the rapid blinking but now I know the most likely reason why.

 

[XPan]

Yes, stars blink

because it is only the light of the star you see, not the surface of a star, not even in ultra high magnification - it is still only the light you see.

Planets on the other hand usually don’t blink, because they are made up of a tiny surface. This somehow stabilizes the light, not to fringe at the border, like star light does.

Albeit, both stars (and even planets occasionally) can blink if they are located low above the horizon, because their light has to travel through more layers of the atmosphere.

Stars sparkle particularly much, when the atmosphere is unsettled.

That is what i could remember, from what we learned in the Astronomy observatory studies (Wilhelm-Foerster Sternwarte) in Berlin as a teenager.

 

[Quill]

Could the cold weather enhance the sparkling effect? Especially on winter, when it's freezing, I have noticed that bright stars low on horizon seem to literally sparkle.

 

[XPan]

Could the cold weather enhance the sparkling effect? Especially on winter, when it's freezing, I have noticed that bright stars low on horizon seem to literally sparkle.

I noticed that too.

Perhaps it has to do with that winter air is often dryer (and therefore clearer) than summer air - the latter can hold more moisture, the higher temperature an airmass has, which increases light diffusion. In general this haze diffusion during summer makes stars sparkle a lot less (and appear less bright)

Perhaps also the sensitivity of the eyes plays a roll in perceptions; bright stars appear to sparkle more while weak stars less or not at all, since they can be more difficult to spot (including their sparkle)

This is not absolute knowledge in any way - just my personal observations about stars, planets, night skies, seasons and light qualities in general.

During freezing times the atmosphere vs ground layers often have larger temperature differences, making the layers more unsettled (and bright stars can sparkle really strong)

 

[Search]

Like 25 minutes ago, I saw an asteroid, I guess.
I attached the picture of location and how it looks like. It was somewhere between Cassiopaean constelation and "went" through location of Andromeda Galaxy somewhere to Jupiter, in mine location. Really fast.

It was really exciting and amazing, maybe some of you observe it before?

P.S . First picture is just a location where it passed by.

 

[mkrnhr]

To be exact on the nomenclature, if what you saw was a shooting star or a fireball, it's a "meteor". See the difference here The difference between asteroids and meteorites
or:



Since the phenomenon occurs in the atmosphere people around your area (for many kilometers) would have seen in at different angles in the sky (which allows reconstructing its trajectory and possible origin if done with instruments).

 

[Search]

To be exact on the nomenclature, if what you saw was a shooting star or a fireball, it's a "meteor". See the difference here The difference between asteroids and meteorites
or:

View attachment 64729

Since the phenomenon occurs in the atmosphere people around your area (for many kilometers) would have seen in at different angles in the sky (which allows reconstructing its trajectory and possible origin if done with instruments).

Few minutes before, I guess I saw fireball, it was brighter than Jupiter, it was falling right next to it, so it was possible to compare. Jupiter is one of the brighter objects in my area right now.