<p>While objects blocking the sun may have an effect on the twinkle if viewed on another planet, a twinkle is mainly caused by the effect the atmosphere of a planet has on the light, or something interfering with the light that is passing to your eyes.</p>
<p>From Wikipedia's article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkling" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Twinkling</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Twinkling, or scintillation, is a generic term for variations in apparent brightness or position of a distant luminous object viewed through a medium. If the object lies outside the Earth's atmosphere, as in the case of stars and planets, the phenomenon is termed astronomical scintillation; within the atmosphere, the phenomenon is termed terrestrial scintillation.[2] As one of the three principal factors governing astronomical seeing (the others being light pollution and cloud cover), <strong>atmospheric twinkling is defined as variations in illuminance only.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Stars twinkle because they are so far from Earth that they appear as point sources of light easily disturbed by Earth's atmospheric turbulence</strong>, which acts like lenses and prisms diverting the light's path. <strong>Large astronomical objects closer to Earth, like the Moon and other planets, encompass many points in space</strong> and can be resolved as objects with observable diameters. With multiple observed points of light traversing the atmosphere, their light's deviations average out <strong>and the viewer perceives less variation in light coming from them.</strong></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T00:47:06.653Z
I think the black hole aspect of something else blocking is extremely rare.   The atmospheric cause of twinkling is the primary reason.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T00:47:26.713Z
@userLTK right.
Max0815
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T18:01:25.480Z
Agreed.  I'd define "twinkle" as the high-frequency component of delta brightness, and planetary occultation as mid-frequency,  and (maybe) stellar output variation as low-frequency.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T19:21:18.747Z
@uhoh I updated the answer on the binary systems and removed the black hole part.
Max0815
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T22:11:25.990Z
@Max0815 looks great, thanks!
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-03T00:39:07.773Z
@Muze do you need any clarification?
Max0815
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T00:05:06.623Z
2019-03-01T19:20:52.337Z
2020-06-17T09:47:40.653Z
Max0815
<p>Does our solar system have enough bodies in orbit to appear to twinkle to another distant solar system viewed from the side? </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/6nuHl.gif" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/6nuHl.gif" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid-discovering_observatories" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid-discovering_observatories</a></p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/5zEAF.gif" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/5zEAF.gif" alt="enter image description here"></a>
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-11-nasa-lucy-sky-asteroids.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://phys.org/news/2018-11-nasa-lucy-sky-asteroids.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T00:48:22.727Z
While it looks crowded, it's really quite empty when drawn to scale.   Jupiter, for example, when it crosses the sun's path it blocks about 1% of the sunlight.   That's not very much when viewed from another solar system.
userLTK
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T00:51:56.843Z
What userLTK said. The average distance between asteroids is around a million km, about 2.5 times the distance between the Earth & the Moon.
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T00:58:30.793Z
@PM2Ring this would also include the Oort cloud and Jupiter Trojans and thickest of the asteroid belt would only cause the Sun to be dimmed 1%?
Muze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-01T01:26:42.427Z
@PM2Ring No answers in the comment box.
Muze
<the-sun><orbit><amateur-observing><mass><visualization>
Does the Sun twinkle?
Muze
# Does the Sun twinkle?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-02-28)

Does our solar system have enough bodies in orbit to appear to twinkle to another distant solar system viewed from the side?

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/6nuHl.gif)](https://i.sstatic.net/6nuHl.gif)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid-discovering_observatories>

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/5zEAF.gif)](https://i.sstatic.net/5zEAF.gif)
<https://phys.org/news/2018-11-nasa-lucy-sky-asteroids.html>

**Tags:** the-sun, orbit, amateur-observing, mass, visualization

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: While it looks crowded, it's really quite empty when drawn to scale.   Jupiter, for example, when it crosses the sun's path it blocks about 1% of the sunlight.   That's not very much when viewed from another solar system.  
> **username_2**: What username_1 said. The average distance between asteroids is around a million km, about 2.5 times the distance between the Earth & the Moon.  
> **username_0**: @PM2Ring this would also include the Oort cloud and Jupiter Trojans and thickest of the asteroid belt would only cause the Sun to be dimmed 1%?  
> **username_0**: @PM2Ring No answers in the comment box.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2019-03-01. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

While objects blocking the sun may have an effect on the twinkle if viewed on another planet, a twinkle is mainly caused by the effect the atmosphere of a planet has on the light, or something interfering with the light that is passing to your eyes.

From Wikipedia's article on [Twinkling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkling):

> Twinkling, or scintillation, is a generic term for variations in apparent brightness or position of a distant luminous object viewed through a medium. If the object lies outside the Earth's atmosphere, as in the case of stars and planets, the phenomenon is termed astronomical scintillation; within the atmosphere, the phenomenon is termed terrestrial scintillation.[2] As one of the three principal factors governing astronomical seeing (the others being light pollution and cloud cover), **atmospheric twinkling is defined as variations in illuminance only.**
>
> **Stars twinkle because they are so far from Earth that they appear as point sources of light easily disturbed by Earth's atmospheric turbulence**, which acts like lenses and prisms diverting the light's path. **Large astronomical objects closer to Earth, like the Moon and other planets, encompass many points in space** and can be resolved as objects with observable diameters. With multiple observed points of light traversing the atmosphere, their light's deviations average out **and the viewer perceives less variation in light coming from them.**

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I think the black hole aspect of something else blocking is extremely rare.   The atmospheric cause of twinkling is the primary reason.  
> **username_3**: @username_1 right.  
> **username_4**: Agreed.  I'd define "twinkle" as the high-frequency component of delta brightness, and planetary occultation as mid-frequency,  and (maybe) stellar output variation as low-frequency.  
> **username_3**: @username_5 I updated the answer on the binary systems and removed the black hole part.  
> **username_5**: @username_3 looks great, thanks!  
> **username_3**: @username_0 do you need any clarification?  

---

