STELLAR WIND

A 'stellar wind' is a stream of charged particles (i.e., a plasma) which are ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. When originating from the Earth's Sun, the phenomenon is called the solar wind. It consists mostly of high-energy electrons and protons (about 1 keV) that are able to escape the star's gravity in part because of the high temperature of the corona and the high kinetic energy particles gain through a process that is not well understood at this time.