Energy and Mass Injected by Flares and Eruptive Prominences

The dynamic nature of the outer corona has been revealed in recent years by improved techniques of studying the corona with ground based instruments and from space. Rapid changes in the coronal brightness pattern takes the form of mass ejections in which the outward moving material generally appears to escape the Sun. These events are called coronal transients. Observations have shown that the excess mass and energy in coronal transients are supplied by material expelled from the chromosphere and lower corona in conjunction with Hα surface activity. The transients are the coronal response to release of mass and energy which are manifested by flares and eruptive prominences.