When you look up at the stars, do you ever see one that keeps changing colors?

I keep seeing this one star that goes from white/gold (the usual twinkly star color), to light blue. And then this other star does the same thing, but it changes to pink. And it constantly flashes, it doesn't stay white for a while and then turn to blue (or pink), it changes every few seconds.

At first, I thought it was my eyes/mind playing tricks on me. But I can always locate these two stars, and they are always the only two light-changing stars I see in the sky on a clear night.

I'd like to believe one represents my Grandma, and the other one is my Grandpa, who both just recently passed away over the last few years...

Have you ever seen stars that change colors?

 

At the risk of being technical this is because of scintillation ("twinkling") as the light passes through the atmosphere of the earth. As the air moves in and out, the starlight is refracted, often different colors in different directions. Because of this stars can appear to change colors when they are twinkling strongly.

On a separate note, there are also radio stars that emit electromagnetic waves but are invisible. There are also 'dead stars' that exploded into a supernova. But that is another story.

 

Funny you've asked this. A while back this January 2017 I saw a blue streak of light at night. It just went across the sky and it flew low near the surface of our home town in Kenya. I was really jazzed up. It seemed like some sought of magic or heavenly sign. Thought was a space ship or UFO. Truly stars are not the only thing up there.