Comparison of radioheliograph, coronagraph and K-coronameter observations of a coronal streamer

A comparison is made of observations of a bright coronal streamer made with an 80 MHz radioheliograph, a K-coronameter, and the Skylab white light coronagraph. The values of polarization radiance were used to derive a coronal density model, and an alternative model was calculated for a streamer density distribution such as given by Newkirk (1961); neither model fits the radioheliograph observations well. In particular, radio brightnesses are lower than expected on the basis of white light or EUV data, at least at low heights near the plasma level. With regard to this discrepancy, fundamental questions about the nature of the corona and wave propagation through a streamer structure are considered.