Wands Hampton: age 11, of Farmersville: California, for her  question:

Why do all the stars twinkle?

Why don’t all the stars twinkle?  The stars which do not twinkle are really not stars at all.  They are planets like our earth and members of our Solar System.  Their distance from us is measured in millions of miles. The distant stars are so far away that their distances are measured in light years and one light year is equal to about six million, million miles.

Light fans out in all directions from a distant star. By the time it reaches us, its beams are so narrow that they have trouble piercing our atmosphere. Dancing particles of air bounce them this way and that. The starry light twinkles. The planets shine with reflected glory from the sun. They too send out light in all directions. But they are so close to us that their light reaches our atmosphere in broad bands and the particles of air cannot joggle them around and make them twinkle.