The slides in this collection were written By P. Charbonneau and O.R. White–April 18, 1995.

Solar corona at eclipse, 3 November 1994, Putre, Chile.

This image of the Sun's corona was recorded during the total solar eclipse on 3 November 1994 by the HAO team in Putre, Chile. The dark center is the disk of the moon as it passes between between us and the Sun. The darker coronal regions at the top and bottom of the lunar disk mark the Sun's north and south polar caps, respectively, and these polar regions contain faint plumes of coronal plasma outlining the poloidal magnetic field of the Sun. The most striking coronal features at eclipse are the white streamers extending from the sun into the interplanetary medium. These streamers are visible because light from the very bright solar disk, now behind the moon's disk, is scattered to us by electrons in the streamers. The small bright features just outside the moon's edge are solar prominences glowing red by fluorescence from hydrogen atoms. All of these solar features are only visible at eclipse because, without the moon to block the bright solar disk, sunlight scattered by particles in the earth's atmosphere overwhelms the faint coronal emissions. The sudden appearance and disappearance of the solar corona at eclipse gives the viewer the impression of an almost mystical event lasting for only a few minutes. (Also see AstronomyConnect.)

Slide Gallery:

The Solar Disk in White Light	30 July 1991: 10Å Ca K image	14 June 1994: G-Band image	10Å Ca K image and Magnetogram	03 July 1991: Magnetogram image	11 August 1980: Hα image
4 June 1946: Hα photograph	Hα image and Magnetogram [up close]	16 February 1980: White light image	18 March 1988: White light image	06 January 1993 and 07 February 1993: Soft-Xray images	22 April 1994: Two coronal images
18 August 1980: White Light image	14 April 1980 and 24 Oct 1989: White Light images	Two examples of solar activity as seen in X-rays.	Sequences of white light images (left), and corresponding magnetic inclination maps (right)	Sunspots visible on the solar disk vary continuously at any given time	Butterfly diagram for the time period 1900–1993
Two solar magnetograms taken in the descending phases of cycles 21 and 22	06 January 1993 and 07 February 1993: Soft-Xray images	Conclusion	Credits	Further Readings	Questions & Answers