Interacting Active Regions

A series of active regions, lined up one after the other across the upper half of the Sun, twisted and interacted with each other over 4.5 days (Sept. 28 - Oct. 2, 2011). As seen in extreme UV light, the magnetically intense active regions sported coils of arcing loops and numerous times these magnetic field lines above them can be seen connecting with the active region next door. Towards the end of the clip, a leading active region blasted out a coronal mass ejection, quickly succeeded by a blast from another active region. The disruption of the magnetic field from one likely triggered the second, a phenomenon that we have observed before by SDO.