Quasi-stationary solar wind in ray structures of the streamer belt

It is shown on the basis of analyzing the LASCO/SOHO data that the main quasi-stationary solar wind (SW), with a typical lifetime of up to 10 days, flows in the rays of the streamer belt. Depending on R, its velocity increases gradually from V approximate to3 km s(-1) at R approximate to1.3 R. to V approximate to 170 km s(-1) at R approximate to 15 R.. We have detected and investigated the movement of the leading edge of the main solar wind at the stage when it occupied the ray, i.e., at the formative stage of a quasi-stationary plasma flow in the ray. It is shown that the width of the leading edge of the main SW increases almost linearly with its distance from the Sun. It is further shown that the initial velocity of the inhomogeneities (`blobs') that travel in the streamer belt rays increases with the distance from the Sun at which they originate, and is approximately equal to the velocity of the main solar wind which carries them away. The characteristic width of the leading edge of the `blob' delta approximate toR., and remains almost unchanging as it moves away from the Sun. Estimates indicate that the main SW in the brightest rays of the streamer belt to within distances at least of order R approximate to3 R. represents a flow of collisional magnetized plasma along a radial magnetic field.