Rippling Waves of Plasma May Cause Massive Stars to ‘Twinkle’

The turbulent cores of massive stars could cause fluctuations in their brightness. Unlike the twinkling of stars seen from Earth, this isn’t caused by atmospheric disturbances. Researchers hypothesise that gravity waves are behind the subtle changes in how some massive stars shine. Gravity waves (not to be confused with gravitational waves) are created when huge waves of plasma bubble out of the star’s core and crash into its perimeter.