[2] During the last decade the new ground (Mark 3-4) and
satellite SOHO/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph
Experiment (LASCO) coronagraphs were realized for regular
measurements of electronic density in solar corona. These
data essentially expand the long series of coronal
observations of the K or white corona using out of eclipse
and episodic observations during the eclipses. It was well
known that different type of the observations reflects various
brightness of the corona. For example, the observations of
internal corona in EUV and X-ray ranges (SOHO/EIT-171A)
displayed the arch structures of the corona above bipolar
active regions at heights of
1.1 R-1.2 R
and the regions of
diffusion coronal brightness at heights up to
1.1 R
[Tlatov and Makarov, 2003].
Diffusion corona was observed also outside
of coronal holes above the large-scale magnetic fields of
mixed polarity during the minimum of solar activity.
Observations of the K or white corona during the eclipses
show presence of the structures, having increased electron
density in coronal plasma, at heights up to several radiuses of
the Sun. This distribution of electron density slightly differs
from one in spectral corona. For example, bright K coronal
structures exist during an epoch of the minimum activity. The
polar K corona was observed too in an epoch of the
maximum activity. Such distribution of electron density in
the corona connects with presence of heliosphere neutral
current layer
[Hoeksema, 1984].
It was shown that bright
coronal streamers cuddle up to heliosphere neutral current
layer at heights more than
2.5 R
and they form the belt of
coronal streamers
[Bohlin, 1970].
The heliosphere current
layer was located near solar equator during the solar
minimum. It reached the high latitudes of the northern and
southern hemispheres with development of solar cycle and it
has been folded
[Wang and Sheeley, 1992].
The sources of
coronal condensation can be connected with the active
regions and neutral lines of the large-scale magnetic field that
tracer by the filaments and prominences in chromosphere.
The large-scale field of the Sun in chromosphere and low
corona has a zonal structure that separates the regions of
magnetic field of opposite polarity. The neutral lines of
magnetic field are displaced to the poles with development of
solar cycle and they can be considered as independent belts
in different hemispheres of the Sun. In this paper we consider
the solar corona at heights of
2.3 R
-5.5 R
to determine the
basic sources of coronal brightness and nonradial direction of
the streamers.
Citation: 2004), Measurements of brightness and nonradial direction of coronal streamers according to data of SOHO/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment (LASCO)-C2, Int. J. Geomagn. Aeron., 5, GI2011, doi:10.1029/2004GI000069.
Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union (