Superwind

{{Short description|Dense stellar wind}} {{distinguish|Galactic superwind}} A '''superwind''' is an extremely dense wind emanating from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars towards the end of their lives.<ref name=marshall/> While the exact origin of the superwind is unknown, it is believed that it causes the AGB star to appear as an OH/IR star. <ref name="Caroll2017">{{cite book | last1=Carroll | first1=Bradley W. | last2=Ostlie | first2=Dale A. | title=An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge | date=2017-09-07 | isbn=978-1-108-42216-1 | page=}}</ref> At the latest stages of the star's life, an AGB star can lose around <math>10^{-4}</math> solar masses per year to the superwind. <ref name="Caroll2017" /> This mass loss is so high that it causes nuclear fusion in AGB stars to be extinguished earlier than was predicted in early theories. After nuclear fusion has ceased, the star becomes a white dwarf, and the dense wind envelope becomes its planetary nebula. <ref name="Prialnik2009">{{cite book | last=Prialnik | first=Dina | title=An Introduction to the Theory of Stellar Structure and Evolution | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2009-10-29 | isbn=978-0-521-86604-0 | page=}}</ref>

== See also == {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * Cosmic wind * Solar wind * Stellar wind * Planetary wind * Stellar-wind bubble * Colliding-wind binary * Pulsar wind nebula * Galactic superwind {{div col end}}

== References == <references>

<ref name=marshall>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.08417.x|title=Asymptotic giant branch superwind speed at low metallicity|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=355|issue=4|pages=1348|year=2004|last1=Marshall|first1=Jonathan R|last2=Van Loon|first2=Jacco Th|last3=Matsuura|first3=Mikako|last4=Wood|first4=Peter R|last5=Zijlstra|first5=Albert A|last6=Whitelock|first6=Patricia A|doi-access=free |arxiv=astro-ph/0410120|bibcode=2004MNRAS.355.1348M|s2cid=85444532 }}</ref>

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Category:Stellar evolution Category:Stellar phenomena