K-corona

K-corona

The inner part of the solar corona, responsible for the greater part of its intensity out to a distance of about two solar radii. It consists of rapidly moving free electrons, and exhibits a linearly polarized continuous spectrum owing to Thomson scattering, by the electrons, of light from the photosphere. The Fraunhofer lines are not present in the spectrum: they have been sufficiently broadened by the large Doppler shifts resulting from the rapid random motion of the electrons as to overlap and be indiscernible. The K-corona attains a temperature of around 2 000 000 kelvin at a height of about 75 000 km. It may exhibit considerable structure, with streamers (regions of higher than average density) overlying active regions and quiescent prominences, and coronal holes (regions of exceptionally low density) overlying areas characterized by relatively weak divergent (and therefore primarily unipolar) magnetic fields.