The X-ray corona from Skylab

An overview of the images obtained with the A.S. and E. X-ray telescope on Skylab shows the low corona to be highly structured. The plasma is distributed in closed loops shaped by the magnetic field with sizes ranging from the smallest resolvable structures of a few thousand kilometres to loops that reach halfway across the solar disk. Relatively high-temperature and dense plasma loops overlay active regions; large-scale interconnections link active regions to their surrounding fields and in some cases to other active regions. The large-scale loops, which cover most of the Sun outside of active regions, appear to be related to old active regions whose magnetic fields have spread out over the course of several solar rotations. Often at the poles and occasionally on the disk, large regions display radial field configurations (coronal holes) from which the plasma preferentially escapes into high-velocity solar wind streams. A comprehensive view of the structure and evolution of the X-ray corona is given in terms of the physical conditions existing in the various coronal loops, and the importance of active regions is emphasized by examining their structure and time development over a wide range of scales. (author)