Fletcher, L., Metcalf, T. R., Alexander, D., Brown, D. S., and Ryder, L. A., "Evidence for the Flare Trigger Site and Three-Dimensional Reconnection in Multiwavelength Observations of a Solar Flare", ApJ 554, 451-463, 2001

Click on the image above for a larger version of the .gif file.

One of the first cartoon renditions of the "spine and fan" reconnection morphology, the most attractive theoretical description as we lurch into the third dimension here. The "spine" is the unique field line linked to a coronal magnetic-field null, the generalization of the X-point in the old-fashioned 2-D or 2.5-D view of magnetic reconnection - superseded, yes; obsolete, yes, but still gospel in some circles (perhaps a slight exaggeration; I don't see any new 2-D cartoons in the Archive after about 1997).

Archive home page
Matrix view
Chronological view