The extreme heat produces x rays that create light when they hit the gasses of the corona. Prominences Prominences are generally less violent than solar flares. Some are quiet and hang there for weeks, others rain matter down on the photosphere, still others literally explode into space, pushing the corona out in front of them in a great burst that carries the gas off the sun altogether. The solar corona is constantly losing particles. Most of the mass of the sun is held in by magnetic fields in the corona, but particles slip through occasional holes in the fields.
Solar wind affects the magnetic fields of all the planets in the solar system.
When the solar wind hits the Earth's magnetic field, the wind compresses the field and creates a shock wave called the Bow shock. Closer to the Earth are the Van Allen radiation belts where solar particles are trapped due to magnetic forces. Still closer are huge rings of electric current around the poles, formed by the influence of the solar wind on the magnetic field. Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune have magnetotails where the wind extends their magnetic field. The heliopause is the boundary where the sun's solar wind hits the gasses of interstellar space.