BIG SUNSPOT ALERT

BIG SUNSPOT ALERT: A big new sunspot group is emerging over the sun's northeastern limb. It is crackling with C-class solar flares and could soon pose a threat for stronger M-flares. With a primary dark core twice as large as Earth, the sunspot is an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. We recommend the projection method. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

THE THERMOSPHERE IS HEATING UP:Solar Cycle 25 is intensifying--and Earth's upper atmosphere is responding.

"The Thermosphere Climate Index (TCI) is going up rapidly right now," reports Linda Hunt of Science Systems and Applications, Inc. "It has nearly tripled in the past year."

TCI is a number published daily by NASA, which tells us how hot Earth's upper atmosphere is. The thermosphere, the very highest layer of gas, literally touches space and is a sort of "first responder" to solar activity. Hunt created this plot showing how TCI has unfolded during the last 7 solar cycles. Solar Cycle 25 (shown in blue) is just getting started: