The study of the solar chromosphere is an area where the MMA can make important contributions. The MMA observations will be useful for understanding problems now emerging from helioseismic research connected with the structure of the solar chromosphere. So we might expect to see thermal variations of order 75 K with 1 resolution. They are presumed to form via a thermal instability, but the details remain unclear. By the time they are seen in absorption in spectral lines at visible wavelengths, the formation process is largely complete.
Filaments are optically thick to wavelengths longward of a few mm.
Given that filamentary structures appear in a number of astrophysical contexts, the ability to study the formation of solar filaments and prominences is of general interest. Finally, some filaments are ejected from the Sun in spectacular eruptions. The destabilization and eruption of filaments in eruptive flares is of particular interest. When pressure and Zeeman broadening are included, these estimates fell further still. Their detection would represent direct verification of dielectronic recombination processes in the low corona and transition region, and would offer the possibility of measuring the magnetic field strength in those regions through the Zeeman effect.