A High-Resolution View of the Solar Chromosphere and Corona

Skylab has demonstrated the dominant role of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere. The solar wind is not a necessary consequence of the pressure imbalance between the hot corona and the interplanetary medium. High speed solar windstreams are originating in coronal holes where coronal density and temperature are less than in the quiet sun. Older models of the solar wind invoke heat conduction from the hot corona as the prime energy source for the solar wind. However in coronal holes the energy supplied by heat conduction is less than in the ordinary sun while the high speed windstreams require an amount of energy which cannot be supplied by conduction alone.