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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
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Posted: Wed Jun 26 13:46:55 1985
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>> ... 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.