Wiktionary
n. (context astronomy English) The equivalent of solar wind associated with a star other than the Sun.
Wikipedia
A stellar wind is a flow of gas ejected from the upper atmosphere of a star. It is distinguished from the bipolar outflows characteristic of young stars by being less collimated, although stellar winds are not generally spherically symmetric.
Different types of stars have different types of stellar winds.
Post- main-sequence stars nearing the ends of their lives often eject large quantities of mass in massive ($\scriptstyle \dot{M} > 10^{-3}$ solar masses per year), slow (v = 10 km/s) winds. These include red giants and supergiants, and asymptotic giant branch stars. These winds are understood to be driven by radiation pressure on dust condensing in the upper atmosphere of the stars.
Massive stars of types O and B have stellar winds with lower mass loss rates ($\scriptstyle \dot{M} < 10^{-6}$ solar masses per year) but very high velocities (v > 1–2000 km/s). Such winds are driven by radiation pressure on the resonance absorption lines of heavy elements such as carbon and nitrogen. These high-energy stellar winds blow stellar wind bubbles.
G-type stars like the Earth's Sun have a wind driven by their hot, magnetized corona. The Sun's wind is called the solar wind. These winds consist mostly of high-energy electrons and protons (about 1 keV) that are able to escape the star's gravity because of the high temperature of the corona.
Stellar winds from main-sequence stars do not strongly influence the evolution of lower mass stars such as the Sun. However, for more massive stars such as O stars, the mass loss can result in a star shedding as much as 50% of its mass whilst on the main sequence: this clearly has a significant impact on the later stages of evolution. The influence can even be seen for intermediate mass stars, which will become white dwarfs at the ends of their lives rather than exploding as supernovae only because they lost enough mass in their winds.
Stellar wind is the flow of particles from the atmosphere of stars.
Stellar wind may also refer to:
- Stellar Wind, the code name for certain United States government information collection activities
- Solar wind, stellar winds emitted by Earth's sun
Stellar Wind (foaled 13 February 2012) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Virginia, she raced in Maryland as a juvenile, winning one minor race from two starts. As a three-year-old, racing mainly in California, she improved to become arguably the best filly of her generation in North America. In the spring of 2015 she won the Santa Ysabel Stakes and the Santa Anita Oaks before finishing fourth when favorite for the Kentucky Oaks. On her return to California she recorded further Graded victories in the Summertime Oaks and the Torrey Pines Stakes and then ended her season by finishing second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She was voted American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly for the 2015 season.
Usage examples of "stellar wind".
Remember, the stellar wind has been channeled up and out through the poles.
Once the mass of a protostar reached a threshold level, it would ignite in a fusion reaction that would generate a fierce stellar wind, to blow away the remnants of the nursery nebula.
The important difference is that the stellar wind is atomic nuclei.
It seems the stellar wind blowing off Izmunuti wasn't just atomic or molecular carbon, but a ftind of star soot made up of tubes, coils, spheres, and such.
At least we dont have to worry about dangerous radiation effects from intense magnetic fields, especially since Nemesis stellar wind is bound to be much less intense than that of the Sun.
They told each other that this brilliant stellar wind would breathe new life into their fellows and into their City.
To know that all truth, all justice, all right, shone from the True Gods like stellar wind, illuminating the universe.