SOLAR CORONA DIAGNOSTIC WITH SOLAR-WIND IRON CHARGE SPECTRA

Matter flowing away from the solar surface becomes highly ionized in t he corona (T approximate to 2 . 10(6)K) by collisions with electrons. Due to the decreasing electron density with increasing distance from t he solar surface, the charge state distributions freeze and remain una ltered throughout the interplanetary medium. This is why charge spectr a measured at 1 AU are a valuable diagnostic tool for temperature and density variations in the inner solar corona. Preliminary results of i ron charge spectra obtained from the SOHO CELLAS CTOF mass spectromete r indicate a patchy structure of the corona at scales of approximate t o 10(4) km.