Five series of coronal images have been obtained by V.Kulijanishvili during the total solar eclipse of the June 21, 2001, in Zambia, Lusaka. A photographic mirror-lens coronagraph-polarimeter (D=100 mm, F=1000 mm) was used. The absolute brightness, polarization and direction of polarization of the inner corona were measured. Standard techniques are used for the separation of the F- and K-coronas and for determination of coronal electron densities and temperatures. The background skylight polarization and intensity are calculated.

Total solar eclipses observed on the long baseline allow to obtain the pictures of white-light solar corona with the long temporal distance. New mathematical methods of coronal picture processing allow visualization of very faint coronal structures and enable to compare their position in corona with very high accuracy. We can detect the moving of these faint structures by comparing of pictures obtained on the different places during the same total solar eclipse. Some techniques and results are described in this paper.

Understanding the mechanism that causes the emergence of magnetic flux from the solar interior to the atmosphere, the drastic changes in the properties of the matter and magnetic fields along the rise and the interplay of dynamic and resistive phenomena that shape the emerged regions is one of the major open tasks in solar physics. Important advances are being made both in the theoretical modelling and in the observation of the emergence events. This review concentrates on recent advances through 3D numerical experiments carried out with massively parallel MHD and radiative transfer codes.

We present results of our study of dependence of planetary geomagnetic activity from geometric factors in geoeffective parameters taking into account orientation of the geomagnetic moment M relative to the vectors of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF) and electric field of the solar wind E during annual and daily motions of the Earth. We take as our data base space measurements of the IMF and solar wind velocity at the Earth's orbit for 1964-1998 and Kp, Dst indices. Variations of the geometric factors determined by mutual orientation of the vectors E and M can explain 50% of observed variations of Kp and 75% of Dst. We show that geomagnetic activity can reach very high levels of geomagnetic activity Kp = 8 for invariable values of the solar wind electric field by changing only geometric factors.

A class of exact analytic solutions to the Grad-Shafranov equation (GSE), in cylindrical geometry under assumption of axial symmetry is obtained. For this configuration all the physical quantities are invariant under rotations about a fixed direction, which we take it to be the direction Oz of a cylindrical polar coordinate system $(r, \theta, z)$. The obtained solutions can be employed to describe isothermal magnetostatic atmosphere.

This is a brief review of the quiescent large scale visible corona with an emphasis on the origin, structure and role of streamers in the solar wind. The review is mostly based on results from the last 10 years of the SOHO mission and the goal is to provide a coherent picture of what is known about streamers at the end of the current cycle.

The solar wind is considered as a steady fully ionized hydrogen plasma flow, with rotational symmetry. The Parker-spiral type magnetic field specifies the dependence of the flow speed on the radial distance and meridional angle if the plasma is assumed to be quasi-neutral and currentless. A two-particle kinetic model of the collisionless rotationally symmetrical plasma flow in a magnetic field is formulated and applied to estimate the flux and density of the solar wind. The obtained theoretical results are compared to the observational data.

A major problem for predicting the onset of Solar Proton Events is the detection of the magnetic connection between the flare and the earth. If there is a magnetic connection, the particles accelerated by a large solar event may impact the earth and produce the onset of a solar energetic proton event. Current physical models cannot predict the onset of a SPE mainly because of the chaotic conditions within the IMF structure. Kiplinger (1995) reported a high correlation between the existence of 10 MeV protons at Earth and a characteristic pattern of X-ray spectral evolution for several associated flares. We propose a practical approach that tries to detect the time intervals of this correlation. Our assumption is that a high correlation betwewn X-ray and protons at Earth is an important symptom of a magnetic connection and may help to prevent Solar Proton Events.

In the impulsive phase of solar flares, the electrostatic waves can be excited during magnetic reconnection. The proton and electron at reconnecting X points can be accelerated by perpendicular propagating electrostatic waves.

The spectral and source characteristics of a complex radio burst observed with the spectrometers of China and the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph are analyzed. This burst presents two separate burst peaks occurred in different frequency range (broad-band microwave and narrow-band decimeter wavelengths). We stress that the late phase radio bursts in decimeter wavelength corresponding to the post-flare loops may be the radio homologous flare.

We report the temporal evolution of the long lasting solar flare observed on June 6, 2000 (15:00 – 17:00 UT) by the Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (BSS) at INPE. We emphasize the identification of the decimetric fine structures, such as “fiber” and “zebra” emissions, including the unique case of harmonic “zebra” emissions in the decimetric band reported, radio pulsations, type III bursts and variants, recorded during this event in the frequency range of (1.2 – 1.7 GHz). The main characteristics of fine structures recorded are presented.

The solar magnetic cycle affects all levels of the Sun including the convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere and corona. Recent advances in solar space missions (Yohkoh, SOHO and others) and, also, ground-based observations provide us an excellent opportunity to investigate solar magnetic activity in detail, and to draw a new picture of the solar magnetic cycle. Magnetic field appears on the solar surface as a result dynamo processes in the convection zone, and forms bipolar complexes of solar activity. These complexes can be seen in the photosphere as dark sunspots surrounded by the bright plages extended into chromosphere, with arcades of coronal loops best observed in EUV and soft X-rays. The coronal loops reflect the large-scale magnetic structure of complexes of activity. The new data reveal fundamental changes in the magnetic topology during the solar cycle, and details of the polar magnetic field reversals occurring near the sunspot maximum. The solar synoptic maps obtained from the photospheric and coronal data display a close correlation between the erupted magnetic flux and coronal emissions and show large-scale magnetic connectivities. The brief review of solar cycle studies is presented.

An overview is presented of large-scale coronal structures as observed in soft X-rays (SXR) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths in the context of their magnetic properties. These structures include large-scale interconnecting and trans-equatorial loops, coronal streamers, coronal holes, filaments and filament channels. Since the general appearance of the corona and its structures change with evolving underlying fields, evolutionary trends and solar cycle dependence of these coronal structures are discussed as well.

Evidence of coronal oscillations over the interior of supergranular cells was found through SUMER observations. The observations are rasters of quiet Sun regions and the oscillations were detected, in the Ne ${\sc viii}\, 770 \AA$ Doppler maps, as a characteristic pattern. It should be noted that the Ne ${\sc viii}\,$ ion has coronal formation temperature (650 000 K) and that reports of oscillations in the quiet Sun corona are scarce. Magnetic extrapolation from MDI magnetogram showed that at the location where the oscillation was detected, the gas and magnetic pressures get equalized ($\beta$=1) higher in the atmosphere, compared to the surrounding, non oscillating quiet Sun. This could indicate a non-compressible wave propagating inside the gas dominated medium of the cell causing the detected oscillation.

Transport of the solar background large-scale magnetic regions is followed between individual consecutive magnetic synoptic charts derived from observing data of Kitt Peak NSO. During many solar rotations the horizontal magnetic flux displacement was described by large-scale horizontal transport velocities, inferred in many points over the whole solar photosphere. Large-scale transport velocities contains from both axially symmetric and non-axially symmetric components. The first one describes zonal and meridional global transport studied in time interval during three last solar activity cycles. Cycle dependent global velocities are found as values varying in heliographic latitude and in the phase of the solar cycle.

We discuss a large flare that was observed simultaneously by RHESSI in hard X–rays and by the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph (NoRH) in microwaves. The imaging observations made both by RHESSI and NoRH show many interesting features which may be relevant for producing realistic flare models.

We analyze three solar active regions observed with the MDI instrument onboard SoHO (Scherrer et al. 1995). We apply the time-distance helioseismology formalism to derive the travel times of acoustic waves propagating through these active regions. The inversion of these acoustic travel times gives us access to the 3D sound-speed structure below the sunspots. We compare the main characteristics of these inversion results as a function of the active region size and magnetic field strength.

Ulysses spacecraft discovered the long-period, outwardly propagating Alfvén waves in the solar polar regions (Balogh et al. 1995). Here we suggest that the waves may be generated in the solar interior due to the pulsation of the Sun in the fundamental radial mode or in low-frequency g-modes. The period of fundamental mode is about 1 hour, while the period of g-modes can be longer. The pulsation causes a periodical variation of density and large-scale magnetic field, this affecting the Alfvén speed in the solar interior. Consequently the Alfvén waves with the half frequency of pulsation (i.e. with the double period) can be parametrically amplified in the interior below the convection zone due to the recently suggested swing wave-wave interaction. Therefore the amplified Alfvén waves have periods of several hours. The waves can propagate upwards through the convection zone to the solar atmosphere and cause the observed long-period Alfvén oscillations in the solar wind.

Recently, high resolution observations by SOHO and TRACE spacecraft have identified oscillating loops and propagating waves in the solar coronal. These new discoveries established a new discipline that is known as coronal seismology. The importance of this lies in the potential for the diagnostics of coronal structures and knowledge of coronal heating. We present a study of the effects of radiative cooling and heating processes on longitudinal waves in coronal loops. We find that radiation and heating results in a clear modification in the evolution of temperature and pressure perturbations but in slight effect on the decay time of the wave.

Based on photospheric vector magnetograms obtained at Huairou Observing Station and BBSO, we studied the evolution of magnetic nonpotentiality and energy transport in NOAA AR 10720. Daily changes of vector magnetic field was analyzed. Shear angle, helicity and free energy density which were deduced from the data were examined.

A New EFR on January 13 brought in magnetic nonpotentiality strong shear angle, free energy and complexity(multiple neutral line and opposite sign helicity) which touched off AR activity, support the idea that upper atmospheres critical state may be made by continues changes on the photosphere.