盔状流是太阳活动区域发展出来的明亮循环状结构，它们连接磁极性相反的两个相邻区域，并且形成封闭的磁场循环。由于电子被这些循环捕获，因而使其非常明亮。太阳风使得这些循环变得尖细，并伸展到日冕之上，可以在日全食的时候观察到。盔状流通常只在中纬度以"流光带"出现，并随着太阳周期活动区域的移动配置。小的电浆泡或"电浆团"有时会从盔状流的顶端发布，而这是慢速太阳风粒子成员的来源之一。与此相反的，磁场线形成开放的区域称为冕洞，这些区域较为黑暗，并且是快速太阳风的一个来源。如果大体积的电浆从接近盔状流的顶端处分离出去，也能产生日冕物质抛射。

Helmet streamers are bright loop-like structures which develop over active regions on the sun. They are closed magnetic loops which connect regions of opposite magnetic polarity. Electrons are captured in these loops, and cause them to glow very brightly. The solar wind elongates these loops to pointy tips. They far extend above most prominences into the corona, and can be readily observed during a solar eclipse. Helmet streamers are usually confined to the "streamer belt" in the mid latitudes, and their distribution follows the movement of active regions during the solar cycle. 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. In contrast, formations with open magnetic field lines are called coronal holes, and these are darker and are a source of the fast solar wind. Helmet streamers can also create coronal mass ejections if a large volume of plasma becomes disconnected near the tip of the streamer.