Rate of Heat Loss of Plasma in Space

Question

As space is effectively a vacuum that is roughly steady around 4 K, I'm trying to calculate the rate of heat loss for plasma traveling through space.  The best calculator I could find: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/stefan.html#c3 gave me a result in Watts ($0.4485295898437137 times 10^8text{ }mathrm{Watt}$), which is better than nothing, but honestly it's not a value I can completely comprehend.  Can anyone help me either convert the value of Watts to something more understandable, such as degrees K/sec?  Or if someone can point to another way to calculate a value using similar types of values?

Gert · Answer

Firstly, attributing over $10$ digits to the power loss is quite silly. You've probably got $3$ or $4$ significant digits, at the most.
Secondly, for normal$^dagger$ objects, if the power loss is, say $P$ then the rate of cooling $dot{T}$ ($mathrm{K/s}$) obeys:
$$P=mc_pdot{T}$$
with $m$ the mass of the object and $c_p$ its specific heat capacity.
So:
$$dot{T}=frac{P}{mc_p}$$
$^dagger$ No loss or gain of mass, no exo- or endothermic phase transitions.

Rate of Heat Loss of Plasma in Space

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