Solar Orbiter reveals persistent magnetic reconnection in medium-scale filament eruptions

Solar filament eruptions play a key role in driving space weather, yet their fine-scale evolution remains poorly understood due to observational limitations. Using unprecedented high-resolution observations from Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (105 km/pixel) and Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager, we detect persistent magnetic reconnection events in a failed filament eruption. We identify magnetic reconnections between the filament and the surrounding magnetic field structures, with a higher frequency and a greater variety of types than previously observed. These reconnections significantly affect the filament stability and eruption dynamics, leading to sequential coronal jets and failed eruptions. We propose a “persistent magnetic cutting” concept, highlighting how persistent small-scale magnetic reconnections cumulatively affect filament stability during its evolution.