What is thermosphere?

The thermosphere is the layer of Earth’s atmosphere that gets super hot when sunlight hits it.

Imagine you're wearing a coat on a cold day, and suddenly someone shines a bright flashlight right on you, you’d feel warm, maybe even a little hot. That’s kind of what happens in the thermosphere. When the Sun’s light reaches this layer, it makes the air there really, really hot.

Think of the thermosphere like a blanket wrapped around Earth. But instead of keeping you warm from the outside, it gets heated up by the Sun’s rays. Even though it's very high up, like way higher than airplanes fly, the thermosphere can be so hot that it feels almost like fire.

But here's the cool part: even though it's super hot, there are not many air particles in the thermosphere. So you wouldn’t feel the heat if you were floating through it, it’s more like being near a fire than being inside it!

Sometimes, when the Sun is especially bright, this layer lights up with glowing colors, creating the auroras we see in the night sky. It's like the sky is dancing with light!