The Yohkoh satellite has now been orbiting the Earth for 6 years and during this
time has revealed a number of new features of the solar corona, in particular, t
he existence of X-ray jets and
active region transient brightenings as well as observing hard X-ray sources abo
ve the soft X-ray loops of solar flares.
It has also clearly demonstrated how distinctive the change between solar minimu
m and solar maximum are in the corona through its superb soft X-ray images.
SOHO, the newest solar space observatory, has been orbiting the L1 point for just 19 months, but has already identified some new and interesting characteristics of both the interior of the Sun and the outer atmospheres. For example the differential rotation of the surface and convection zone are believed to be well established, the structure of the magnetic fields in the photosphere have been observed with better resolution and cadence than ever before and a new event known as a blinker has been identified in the chromosphere.
Together these two instruments have dominated solar research throughout the 90s and will continue to do so during the rise from solar minimum to the next solar maximum.