Does therelative humidity affect the number of visible stars?
475930
The number of visible stars is the same whether it is overcast or not.  The question is whether we can see them from our particular vantage point.\n\nAnyways...\n\n\nIf the relative humidity is very high, then there is an excess of moisture in the air that particulate can stick to.\n\nLogic says yes, it would make it harder to see the stars.\nFOr instance, if you look toward the horizon, there is so much atmosphere that the views from this angle would be limited in quality.\n\nBut maybe on a clear night with high relative humitidy, looking straight up wouldn't effect the view too much.  Good question.  Another thought is, after it rains really good, and the clouds clear, the humidity would be high but particulate in the air at a minimum for a short while.  SO, maybe the viewing would be better at that point.
1086790
Yes, there are a few of them, I beleive they are called Quasars, and they fluctuate through the color spectrum. I see one a lot at my camping spot in the summer. I dont have my star chart right now, or i could tell you more about it.
127084
I suspect that what you mean is that the relative humidity is sometimes greater at night than it is during the daytime. This is because the air is warmer usually during the day, so it can hold more moisture.
687802
The brightest stars, the ones you can see with the naked eye, are all B8 and B9.  Some of the dimmer ones are of other classes--B,A,F, and perhaps some cooler classes, too.
885602
If you mean visible to the unaided eye and defining the dippers, seven each.  In the Little Dipper you have Polaris and Kochab, the others are not particularly bright and have no names, just catalog numbers.\nIn the Big Dipper, one could argue that there are eight visible stars, as the middle star in the handle, Mizar, has another star, Alcor, right next to it.  The two stars at the end of the bowl of the Big Dipper, Merak and Dubhe, point straight to Polaris.
64343
It varies place to place and even month to month.\n\nWhat one needs to consider are three things: which are the brightest stars in the sky (as these are going to be the first to be seen as the sky darkens), what times of year are these stars visible RIGHT AT DUSK, and from which parts of the globe are they visible?\n\nThe brightest star in the night sky is Sirius.  Siruis is located in the southern sky, but is visible from the vast majority of the Northern hemisphere because it isn't too far south.  If you're in a part of the world where Sirius can be seen (all but Canada, Alaska, Russia, Scandanavia, etc), and at a time of year when it is in the sky right at dusk (mid winter to early spring), then Sirius (also called the Dog Star) will be the first to be visible.\n\nOther bright stars:\n\nCanopus (visible primarily from the southern hemisphere and the tropics or subtropics)\n\nArcturus (visible throughout the Northern hemisphere, would be in evening sky probably from spring to mid summer)\n\nAlpha Centauri (the closest of all stars, visible primarily from the southern hemisphere and the tropics or subtropics)\n\nVega (the one in the movie Contact, visible throughout the northern hemisphere, in evening sky around late summer through autumn)\n\nCapella (visible throughout the Northern hemisphere, probably in evening sky around winter into early spring)
715590
Believe it or not, there are.  Sort of.  Simply put, because of the way our eyes work, green stars actually appear white when we look at them.  For a more complete explanation see the following link.\n\n\nhttp://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q72.html
136234
I believe that this effect is due more to the amount of atmosphere the light is travelling through, rather than the angle the light is striking the atmophere, or refractive effects. \n\nThe presence of nitrogen and oxygen molecules, which are much smaller than the wavelength of light, in our atmosphere results in Rayleigh-Tyndall scattering, so that the blue light (short wavelengths, closest in size to the scatterers) are scattered out of the mostly whitish sunlight. When the sun is low in the sky, the light from the sun has to travel through more atmosphere to reach us, so more blue and other short wavelengths are scattered out, leaving progressively more yellow, then orange, and finally red sunlight as the sun is lower in the sky. \n\nSo,\n\nwhen the sun is high in the sky:\n(mostly white sunlight)-(scattered blue light)=(yellowish sunlight)\n\nand as the sun drops lower in the sky:\n(mostly white sunlight)-(even more scattered blue light)=(orange or even red sunlight)\n\nThe sky will also appear orange or red when the sun is low in the sky. This is the reflection of the red or orange sunlight from dust, soot and water droplets in the air. \n\nIf the air is full of soot or dust of the right size (about the same size as the wavelength of light), then one does not see Rayleigh scattering, or Mie Scattering (when the particles are much bigger than the light, creating the white of clouds), but selective scattering, when the red is scattered out, creating effects like a blue moon or sun.\n\nWhy the refraction argument will not work:\n- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -\n\nThe air layers lowest to the earth are associated with the slowest speed of light, and so as the sun is setting, its light is bent down towards the earth. In fact, the image of the setting sun is actually from the sun after it is below the horizon because of this effect (which is responsible for the green flash, and the strange shape of the setting sun, because of refraction effects). Red light is refracted the least, so in fact if the refraction effect was causing the sun to appear a different color at sunset, it would not make the sun red, but of a shorter wavelength color (like green, hence the green flash).
933426
At the zenith, you can observer an astronomical object through the least amount of Earths atmosphere.\n\nThe more atmosphere that the light from the object passes through before hitting your eyes (or telescope), the more blurry the image. This is what causes stars (and planets to a lesser degree) to "twinkle".  It follows that since you are looking through less air, starlight  is also less affected by dust particles and air currents.\n\nStill, cold, thin air = good seeing. (One reason why most of the major ground based observatories are at high altitudes)
892778
I think maybe the separation is smaller than the resolving power of my eyes rather than the angular separation of my eyes. So I can't resolve the two sources and just see one bright star. \n\nBest of luck - Mike
231023
This is caused by thermic convection of the air. In the deserts you normally have high differences in temperature between day and night, so hot air is rising rapidly while cold air is moving downwards after sunset. This different densities in the air makes the light bend and the stars seems as if they are dancing, just as if you were looking through an irregular glass. \nIt's a bad night for astronomers.
387674
You can't see the stars during the day due to a process call Rayliegh scattering.\nBasically the sun radiates many visible colours of visible light even though it looks yellow. The blue light that the sun radiates is scattered by the atmosphere in all direction whilst other colours are unaffected. This gives the sky a blue appearance during the day. The blue sky is much brighter than the stars and thus we cannot see them.\nStrange fact: It is because the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen that the sky is blue, if the atmosphere was mostly oxygen it would be green.
16063
If you go out to the desert or a remote area, away from the city & look into the sky on a clear night, you will see many stars & planets in the sky. If you look into the sky using night vision goggles, you will be absolutly amazed to see over a million times the stars & planets in the same sky. You will see so many "Shooting Stars" you wont know which one to watch. With that in mind, knowing that many stars are out there, & thoses are just the ones you can see, the numbers are in favor of YES. Space is just too vast, there are too many other stars & planets (Billions...Trillions, or more) to think that we are the ONLY ones here. Remember, space goes on......forever.... there is no known "end".
620559
If stars twinkle due to the atmosphere, then why the planets and moon do not twinkle?\n\nTwinkle, twinkle, little star, how, I wonder, what you are?\n\nOn a clear night only about 2000 stars are visible to the naked eye.\n\nThe nearest star, Centauri, is at a distance of 4.3 light years; that is at a distance of about 2, 60,000 times the distance of the sun.\n\nEven this nearest star appears to be a point from earth.\n\nTherefore, a point image is formed in the retina our eye, that is they fall on very few rods of our eye. \n\nEven a sight turn of eye ball will shift the image position in the retina. This causes the twinkling effect of stars.\n\nBut if we view a star continuously we can’t feel the twinkling effect. \n\nHowever, some stars vary their brightness periodically; they are long period variables and short period variables. Their period varies from a week to months.\n\nHence they are not the cause for twinkling.
749923
Blinking/flickering stars are due to our atmosphere. But more importantly, due to heat rising from the earth's surface.\n\nIf you were in space, the stars would be constant, since the medium is practically  a vacuum and the light rays are not refracted. However, once you enter our atmosphere, the air medium will cause the white light from the stars to be refracted into different colors.\n\nHowever, when heat rises from the earth, esp at night, the air will have varying refractive indices. Hence, the light from the stars will be refracted more at different times, causing the flickering.\n\nAnother example if this is if you are looking at a bright light in the distance, close to the horizon on a hot day. Most definitely you would see the heat rising from the earth, and the light would be slightly flickering also. In addition, if you are atop a hill at night, looking down at a city or town, its lights would also be flickering. It is the same principle here that applies to the blinking stars.\n\nI hope this helps.
556547
humidity and degrees are two different things. \n\nhumidity is based on air content (moisture)
193287
well stars are in real more like our sun which gives heat and light, but y they have diff color id coz AS ALL THE STARS ARE NOT AT THE SAME DISTANCE FRM THE EARTH THE LIGHT WHICH TRAVELLS FRM THEM AND REACHES US GIVE THEm COLOR .\n\nLIKE white light has 7 colors in it and each has different wave lenght which means that their light travels on those wave lenghts, and secondly the air in our atmosphere water particles are suspended always and these light passing through them give different wave lenght wch gives us diff color