What is the solar wind made of?

Asked by: Anonymous

The solar wind is a stream of energetic particles ejected by the Sun. These include electrons and protons from hydrogen, along with atomic nuclei like helium, otherwise known as alpha particles.

There are also traces of ‘heavy ions’ and atomic nuclei of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon and magnesium. Recent missions have even detected tiny amounts of potassium, titanium and nickel.

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