INITIAL CHIP HE-I OBSERVATIONS OF SOLAR LIMB ACTIVITY

A new instrument capable of 3-min time resolution full-disk and limb o bservations in the He I 1083 nm spectral line has been in operation at the High Altitude Observatory's Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) si nce April 1996. We discuss instrument capabilities an performance and present some initial observations of limb activity from the first year of instrument operation. We compare limb He I and Ha observations of quiescent and active prominences, comment on the role of Doppler shift s in interpreting the He I observations, and illustrate the use of dis k/limb He I observations of a CME-associated eruptive filament in mass -ejection studies.