The phenomenon where a star appears slightly higher than its actual position in the sky is due to the refraction of light in the Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere acts like a prism, bending the light of the star as it enters, which makes the star appear slightly displaced from its true position.
Here's a detailed explanation:
Refraction of Light: When light from a star passes through Earth's atmosphere, it is refracted, or bent, due to the varying density of air layers. This bending causes the star’s image to appear higher than its true position.
Atmospheric Layers: The Earth's atmosphere consists of different layers with varying temperatures and densities. As light passes through these layers, it slows down and bends toward the denser parts of the atmosphere. This bending effect is stronger when the star is closer to the horizon and weaker when it is directly overhead.
Apparent Position: As a result of this bending, the star appears slightly above its true location in the sky. This effect is more noticeable when the star is closer to the horizon because the light travels through a larger portion of the atmosphere.
Illustration:
True Position (T): The star's actual position in the sky.
Apparent Position (A): The position where we see the star due to refraction.
Path of Light (L): The light from the star bending as it passes through the atmosphere.
To summarize:
The star's light is refracted upwards, so the star appears higher in the sky than its true position.
The effect is due to the varying density of the atmosphere and is stronger near the horizon.
I will now generate a labeled diagram to better illustrate this concept.