Deriving the strength and direction of the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field in the solar atmosphere is fundamental for understanding its dynamics. Volume information on the magnetic field mostly relies on photospheric and/or chromospheric surface vector magnetic fields.

Magnetic fields suspend the relatively cool material of solar prominences in an otherwise hot corona. A comprehensive understanding of solar prominences ultimately requires complex and dynamic models, constrained and validated by observations spanning the solar atmosphere.

We explore new opportunities for solar physics that could be realized by future missions providing sustained observations from vantage points away from the Sun-Earth line.

The McIntosh Archive consists of a set of hand-drawn solar Carrington maps created by Patrick McIntosh from 1964 to 2009. McIntosh used mainly H, He-I 10830Å and photospheric magnetic measurements from both ground-based and NASA satellite observations.

The Sun’s outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal heating and the acceleration of the ambient solar wind.

Magnetic fields in the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, control both solar-wind acceleration and the dynamics of solar eruptions.

In 1964 (Solar Cycle 20; SC 20), Patrick McIntosh began creating hand-drawn synoptic maps of solar magnetic features, based on H-alpha images.