A study of solar filaments from high resolution microwave observations

The Very Large Array was used to observe several solar filaments at 1.5 and 5 GHz. The maximum temperature depressions appear to be associated with H-alpha filaments. Comparison with He 10,830 A spectroheliogram shows that 20 cm temperature depressions correspond to the regions of reduced intensity in the He 10,830 A around filaments, which correspond to coronal cavities. The temperature and density structure of the transition sheath between the filament and the surrounding corona was studied assuming that the energy radiated away is balanced by the energy conducted from the corona. It is found that the observations can be better explained by a model having a pressure gradient in the transition sheath around the filament.