Another high-definition plasma  Feb 24, 2011 By Eric Gedenk The
solar wind, originating in the million-degree-Celsius solar
corona, blows through the solar system and interacts with the
protective magnetosphere of the Earth. Huge blobs of plasma,
known as coronal mass ejections, occasionally erupt from the
solar surface and can interfere with satellite communications
when they collide with the Earth's magnetosphere. Credit: NASA
( -- The sight of an aurora evokes feelings of mystery and awe
in the weekend star gazer and scientist alike. The stargazer may
ponder the vastness of our universe or how such vivid color can
be created in space, but for the scientist, the questions lie in
the composition of the aurora—and how little we actually know
about it.  The ionized gases known as astrophysical give us
auroras, comet tails, and much of the spiraling matter falling
into a black hole. Created when a gas becomes so hot that
electrons are pulled away from atoms, such plasma is a fourth
state of matter, in addition