Big, little, whatever the size, stars twinkle. But why?
"When you look at any star that's really low above the horizon, you're looking through the bottommost layer of Earth's atmosphere where the air is densest," says Bob King. "There are all these cells of air of slightly different temperatures that are all moving around, and it's this moving air that causes that twinkling." The biggest of the twinkling stars is Sirius, which can be seen in the low Southeastern sky around 8:30pm.
In addition to twinkling stars, the new year will also bring the Quadrantid Meteor Shower. However, sighting meteors may prove difficult, as the shower overlaps with the next full moon. The Wolf Moon occurs on January 3rd and is so named because wolves are more likely to be howling this time of the year because of territoriality and mating.
You can hear Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy every other Tuesday at 8:20am on Northland Morning.
