Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-pen!kallis From: kallis@pen.DEC Newsgroups: net.astro Subject: Re: Re; re: Stardate: June 11 Where Stars Don't Twinkle Message-ID: <2910@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Wed, 26-Jun-85 13:46:55 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.2910 Posted: Wed Jun 26 13:46:55 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Jun-85 08:16:16 EDT Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: DEC Engineering Network Lines: 19 >> ... why is it that the stars twinkle but the planets don't. There is a superb book, _On the Perception of Light and Colour_ by M. Minnaert, reprinted many times by Dover Press, Inc. I cannot reccommend this book too highly. It's written/translated in a highly entertaining style, and it's written for an intelligent nonspecialist (no optical theory needed here, and terms such as "Snell's Law" and "coefficient of refraction" are notable by their absence -- yet it's correct with theory; they're just not mentioned nor needed). Various meteorological phenomena, including halos (sundogs, santa Fe crosses, moondogs), rainbows, the Fata Morgana, the Green Flash (a phenomena, not a comic-book character :-) [omiGod! I said "phenomena": I meant "phenomenon"]), and various forms of mirage. Assimilating the contents of this extraordin- arily enjoyable book not only will give a reader a greater appreciation as to why stars twinkle, but will go a very long way in giving him or her an appreciation of why on a clear night, you may be able to "see forever," but you might have a hard time trying to make head or tails of what you see. Steve Kallis, Jr.