X-ray bright points and He i λ 10830 dark points

Using near-simultaneous full disk solar X-ray images and He i λ10830 spectroheliograms from three rocket flights, we compare dark points identified on the He i maps with X-ray bright points identified on the X-ray images. We find that for the largest and most obvious features there is a strong correlation: most He i dark points correspond to X-ray bright points. However, about two-thirds of the X-ray bright points were not identified on the basis of the helium data alone. Once an X-ray feature is identified it is almost always possible to find an underlying dark patch of enhanced He i absorption which, however, would not a priori have been selected as a dark point. Therefore, the He i dark points, using current selection criteria, cannot be used as a one-to-one proxy for the X-ray data. He i dark points do, however, identify the locations of the stronger X-ray bright points.