[jQuery] my setinterval is iterating too much

[sneaks]

problem: when i clear my setinterval it takes a few minutes for
everything to stop moving... i think its because i am actually
creating a 'buffer' of setintervals because when i log to console i am
getting more responses than the function seems to be getting called.
not sure what i am missing here...  any help would be appreciated.


        function animateStarNav(initialize) {
                $('.star').each(function(i) {
                        var pause;
                        var pause_counter;

                        if (initialize) {
                                pause=(Math.floor(Math.random()*1000));
                                pause_counter++;
                                if (pause_counter>$('.star').size()) 
pause=false;
                        } else {
                                pause=(Math.floor(Math.random()*5000)+4000);
                        }

                        var obj=$(this);
                        stars[i]=setInterval(function() { positionStar(obj); }, 
pause);
                });
        }



        //      position stars
        function positionStar(obj) {

                console.log((obj).attr('id'));

                if (!docked) {
                        var new_position=-(Math.floor(Math.random()*200)+300);
                        var speed=Math.floor(Math.random()*3000)+1000;

                        (obj).animate({ top:new_position }, speed, 
'easeOutElastic');
                }
        }


        //      dock star nav
        function dockStarNav() {
                $('.star').each(function(i) {
                        clearInterval(stars[i]);
                });
                docked=true;
        }