kallis@pen.DEC (06/26/85)
>> ... 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.