NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of planetary nebula NGC 2818: red = nitrogen, green = hydrogen, and blue = oxygen (HERE) |
“99.9 percent of the Universe is made up of plasma. The magnetosphere provides a barrier between our planet and particles continually given off by the Sun’s corona called the 'solar wind'. These particles constitute a plasma – a mixture of electrons (negatively charged) and ions (atoms that have lost electrons, resulting in a positive electric charge). Plasma is not a gas, liquid, or solid – it is the fourth state of matter [...] The Sun is composed of plasma, fire is plasma." | NASA 1999