Because When they are lower in the sky there is more atmosphere for the light to pass through (therefore more refraction), then when they get up high the light can take a straighter path. Also, some of those instances you may have been mistaking Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn for a star. They certainly look like stars to the naked eye.
whoah there pal, i didn't say i was using just the naked eye. I like to use binoculars. admittedly I don't have the best, I have some Companion 10x42 binoculars. i seen big stars move with the naked eye, but that's rare. i used to see even more tiny ones move with the binoculars.
but in the summer in this undisclosed location, i don't see the stars at all right now. i know what i do or don't see.
Not sure what you're trying to say, but stars don't only imperceptibly move relative to each other (obviously the earths rotation makes them seem to move). If a 'star' did move relative to another it was likely a planet.
I can say with complete and utter certainty, I've seen big and small stars just moving for miles across the sky, at fast or medium speeds, i seen them suddenly shoot off into big white streaks a couple of times. I know what I saw. I was practically glued to the sky each winter night last year and earlier this year, watching them move as closely as i could. No one else cared enough to watch the sky, no matter how interesting it was.
obviously the earths rotation
yeah sure ok. No, I saw stars going in criss cross paths wherever they wanted. up, down, diagonal, left, right, wherever they were headed off to, to do whatever stars do.
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