There are many speculations and children's tales about why stars twinkle. Space debris, planets moving in front of the star, I've even heard someone try and convince me that distant stars where constantly shrinking and expanding, thus the twinkle effect. The real science behind it all is called astronomical scintillation.
What is happening is really quite simple. When the light from stars travels through the earths atmosphere it has a little over 6,000 miles to travel. Now, our atmosphere isn't a constant temperature through out. There are pockets of hot and cold air scattered all over the place. When the light from distant stars reaches us it's a pinpoint of light that gets distorted rapidly before being seen by us. That's why planets and other objects (like satellites or the ISS) don't twinkle. Because they are reflecting enough light back at us that the pockets of air aren't strong enough to warp it.
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