dasmiller
Just the right amount of cowbell
If you look at that image carefully you'll note that the brightest areas are not the loops themselves, but the photosphere. That is because the photosphere is primarily composed of neon and is most sensitive to the electrical current in terms of it's white light output. The loops are primarily heavier elements like iron and also lighter elements like carbon, but it's not as efficient at creating white light.
My understanding was that neon glows orange, not white.
Which is a rather moot, since the 'white' in that picture probably isn't the same as 'white' to the naked eye. The sun itself appears to be brilliant white to the naked eye if seen from above Earth's atmosphere, not predominantly orange as shown in the picture, so all the colors in the picture have to be viewed with some suspicion.
Is the coronal loop rising in kind of Jacob's Ladder effect, or is something else driving it?