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.