Twinkling, or scintillation, is a generic term for variations in apparent brightness or position of a distant luminous object viewed through a medium. If the object lies outside the Earth's atmosphere, as in the case of stars and planets, the phenomenon is termed astronomical scintillation; within the atmosphere, the phenomenon is termed terrestrial scintillation. As one of the three principal factors governing astronomical seeing, atmospheric twinkling is defined as variations in illuminance only.