planets and stars

**disneymom** · 13-08-2008, 12:21 AM

Hope its ok to ask while we're talking about astronomy

1. is it true that if its flickering its a star if not its a planet?
2. is it possible to see the space station and how can we tell what it is
3. website says look for saturn its yellow, everything looks white to me am I going mad?
4. are all the photos we see on tv artificially coloured and how do they decide on what colours to use?

**Skywatcher** · 13-08-2008, 08:07 AM

1. Yes you are correct a planent is much closer and its light is reflected and as such it will not appear to flicker as a stars does.

2. Yes passes of the space station occur quite often and next time they are due over the UK I will post and update with a link to the times of passing - it is a wonderful sight to see and very obvious

3. you have to let your eyes dark adapt for at least 1/2 an hour - even looking at a streetlight will mess it up and the colour thing os obvious all be it subtle

4. they try and get as close to actual colour as possible - as with my pics but there is always some artistic licence to get the prettiest effect - as to the true colopur well that depends on what wavelengths you can ssee in