the.com/stellar wind
a star exhaling itself into space, one proton at a time, forever.
means the constant outflow of charged particles that stars blast off their outer layers into space.
from coined mid-20th century once astronomers realized the sun's corona wasn't just hot, it was actively escaping, streaming outward as what eugene parker termed the solar wind in 1958, later generalized to any star.
solar version speedabout 400 kilometers per second, average
shapes tailscomet tails always point away from sun
mass losssun sheds a mars worth of mass over its life
protects earthsolar wind carves the heliosphere, our cosmic shield