  Magnetic reconnection, the rearrangement of magnetic field topology, is a
fundamental physical process in magnetized plasma systems all over the
universe1,2. Its process is difficult to be directly observed. Coronal
structures, such as coronal loops and filament spines, often sketch the
magnetic field geometry and its changes in the solar corona3. Here we show a
highly suggestive observation of magnetic reconnection between an erupting
solar filament and its nearby coronal loops, resulting in changes in connection
of the filament. X-type structures form when the erupting filament encounters
the loops. The filament becomes straight, and bright current sheets form at the
interfaces with the loops. Many plasmoids appear in these current sheets and
propagate bi-directionally. The filament disconnects from the current sheets,
which gradually disperse and disappear, reconnects to the loops, and becomes
redirected to the loop footpoints. This evolution of the filament and the loops
suggests successive magnetic reconnection predicted by theories1 but rarely
detected with such clarity in observations. Our results on the formation,
evolution, and disappearance of current sheets, confirm three-dimensional
magnetic reconnection theory and have implications for the evolution of
dissipation regions and the release of magnetic energy for reconnection in many
magnetized plasma systems.
