Data obtained by the AS&E X-ray Telescope Experiment during the first Skylab mission have revealed a variety of temporal changes in both the form and brightness of coronal structures. Dynamical changes have been noted in active regions, in large scale coronal structures, and in coronal bright points. The coronal activity accompanying a series of Hα flares and prominence activity between 0800 and 1600 UT on 10 June 1973 in active region 137 (NOAA) at the east limb is shown in Figure 1. It is characterized by increases in the brightness and temperature of active region loops and a dramatic change in the shape and brightness of a loop structure. Figure 2 shows the reconfiguration of an apparent polar crown filament cavity between 1923 UT on 12 June 1973 and 1537 UT on 13 June 1973. A ridge of emitting material which attains a peak brightness at least four times that of the surrounding coronal structures appears within the cavity during the course of the event. Typical X-ray photographs with filters passing relatively soft X-ray wavelengths (3–32, 44–54 Å) show 90 to 100 X-ray bright points (Vaiana et al., 1973). On twelve occasions in the data from the first mission, such bright points were seen to increase in intensity by two orders of magnitude in less than 4 min. Such an event is shown in Figure 3.
Coronal bright points
