SOLAR-WIND COMPOSITION

The composition of the solar wind is a tangible measure of the region of the sun from which it originates, the solar corona. The solar wind also sweeps up material from the regions of interplanetary space through which it passes. There are many sources of entrained material including comets, asteroids, the atmospheres of planets and satellites and material from the local interstellar medium. When the entrained material can be distinguished from solar material, solar wind composition measurements provide information on the extrasolar sources. This review is divided into two parts, one dealing with solar wind composition and the sun, the other dealing with some sources of solar wind material other than the sun. Copyright 1995 by the American Geophysical Union.