REFORMATION OF A CORONAL HELMET STREAMER BY MAGNETIC RECONNECTION AFTER A CORONAL MASS EJECTION

A bright feature observed on Jan. 24-26, 1992 with the soft X-ray telescope on the YOHKOH spacecraft and with the coronameter at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory assumed the appearance of a coronal helmet streamer as it slowly expanded. Mauna Loa observations from Jan. 22-24 indicate that a prominence eruption and coronal mass ejection occurred before this feature was seen. We interpret the Jan. 24-26 observations as evidence for ''reformation'' of a magnetically closed helmet structure as a consequence of magnetic reconnection that proceeded along a vertical magnetic neutral sheet formed by the mass ejection.