CFHT ECLIPSE OBSERVATION OF THE VERY FINE-SCALE SOLAR CORONA

At the July 11, 1991 solar total eclipse, a modern large optical teles cope (CFHT) was used to probe the solar corona. The best possible pict ures were obtained with the CFHT, using fast imaging techniques and po st-facto image selection and processing. Several cameras were run duri ng totality to acquire sub-arcsec spatial resolution white-light image s, with both narrow-band and broad-band filters. The setup and the obs erving procedure are described. Preliminary results, together with an evaluation of the merits of the experiment, are given, as well as a sa mple of images. Fine-scale coronal features were observed for the firs t time in a time series, confirming the importance of plasmoid-like ac tivity in the inner corona. The observation of the smallest coronal fe ature ever reported is analyzed, giving a typical cross-section of 0.4 +/- 0.1 arcsec. On a larger scale, dark loops around a foreground pro minence are resolved for the first time, suggesting that sheet-like vo ids exist above a filament channel.