Helmet streamers have cusp-like bases that taper radially outward away from the Sun forming long stalks.
[3] Surrounding these stalks are open, oppositely directed magnetic fields which are anchored to coronal holes lower in the corona.
[4] The white-light emissions of helmet streamers is due to the high electron density of the confined plasma relative to the surrounding corona.
[5] Small blobs of plasma, or "plasmoids" are sometimes released from the tips of helmet streamers, and this is one source of the slow component of the solar wind.
On the western edge of the structure, the magnetic morphology above the filaments is that of a side-by-side double streamer, with open field between the two channels.