the_linda•27d agoProlific Poster

Is that a planet or a star? I keep seeing people mislabel them in photos

I swear half the time someone posts a bright dot in the sky, people call it a planet when it's actually just Venus or Jupiter. But then others argue stars twinkle and planets don't, which isn't always true near the horizon. Which side do you fall on and how do you tell them apart in real shots?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana27d ago

Ugh yes this drives me crazy lol. People always say "stars twinkle planets don't" but that's only true when they're high up in the sky. If they're near the horizon you get that atmospheric distortion on planets too. The real tell is that planets don't flicker as fast as stars do even near the horizon, they just kind of wobble more slowly. Also in photos you can sometimes tell by the color, planets tend to be more steady yellowish or white while stars have a bluish flickery look in long exposures.

phoenix24627d ago

Oh man I totally know what you mean! I actually read somewhere that the whole "stars twinkle planets dont" thing goes back to like old astronomy books before we really understood atmospheric distortion. Its wild how that myth stuck around. I remember watching Jupiter one time near the horizon and it was wobbling like crazy but still had that steady glow unlike the stars around it. The slow wobble vs fast flicker is definitely the key difference, glad someone else notices that.

mark43627d ago

Haha tell me about it, the "stars twinkle planets don't" thing is such a common myth that I actually believed it for way too long. I think I was like 25 before I realized I'd been spreading misinformation about the night sky for years, oops. @the_diana you're totally right about the horizon thing too, I remember seeing Mars near the horizon once and it was doing this weird slow dance while the stars around it looked like they were having a seizure. The wobble vs flicker is the real giveaway, and I'm just glad I'm not the only one who stares at the sky long enough to notice that kind of thing.