How fast stars blink?

[luigi]

Hi All,

I have an idea/project about simulating the twinkling of stars thru video, the question is what would be a realistic twinkling rate for stars?

If I use 25 frames per second for example in how many frames would you put the star off and in how many on for a realistic effect?

Sorry if this question is too stupid feel free to slap me!

Luis

[bojan]

The fastest blinking that human eye can perceive as blinking is about 15 times per second.. any faster rate would be seen as constant (and intensity would be averaged).

Twinkling is a random process of changing the amplitude of star intensity due to movement of air, and the distribution depends on many factors: elevation, temperature, wind speed, humidity and so on.

I think the randomly changing frequency (this is oxymoron now :-) ) between 1- 5 Hz would be perceived as realistic.

[luigi]

Thanks a lot Bojan!