Solved cryptogram
Stars twinkle and planets do not, because our air bends a point of light more than a small disk.
Astronomy Facts, sourced to NASA.
What it means
A star is so far away that it arrives as a single point, and pockets of warm and cool air along the path deflect that point around, making it flicker. A planet is close enough to present a tiny disk instead, and the wobbles across different parts of that disk average out. It is a reliable way to tell one from the other with nothing but your eyes on a clear night.
The claim comes from NASA, and the page it comes from was read on 2026-08-27 to confirm it still says this.
This is not the kind of claim that goes out of date, which is why it was set as a puzzle rather than a fact with a shelf life.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 76 letters over 20 different ones, graded medium.
- SourceNASA
- CollectionAstronomy Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length76 letters, 20 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
About as hard as this one
Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.