  We report on the state of the corona over the minimum and ascending phases of
Solar Cycle (SC) 25 on the basis of the temporal evolutions of its radiance and
of the properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as determined from
white-light observations performed by the SOHO/LASCO-C2 coronagraph. These
evolutions are further compared with those determined during the past two SC.
The integrated radiance of the K-corona and the occurrence rate of CMEs closely
track the indices/proxies of solar activity, prominently the total magnetic
field for the radiance and the radio flux for the CMEs, all undergoing a steep
increase during the ascending phase of SC 25. This increase is much steeper
than anticipated on the basis of the predicted quasi similarity between SC 25
and 24, and is confirmed by the recent evolution of the sunspot number. The
radiance reached the same base level during the minima of SC 24 and 25, but the
latitudinal extent of the streamer belt differed, being flatter during the
latter minimum and in fact more similar to that of the minimum of SC 23.
Phasing the descending branches of SC 23 and 24 led to a duration of SC 24 of
11.0 years, similar to that given by the sunspot number. In contrast, the base
level of the occurrence rate of CMEs during the minimum of SC 25 was
significantly larger than during the two previous minima. The southern
hemisphere is conspicuously more active than the northern one in agreement with
several predictions and the current evolution of the hemispheric sunspot
numbers. The mean apparent width of CMEs and the number of halo CMEs remains at
relatively large, constant levels throughout the early phase of SC 25 implying
the persistence of weak total pressure in the heliosphere. These results and
the perspective of a corona more active than anticipated are extremely
promising for the forthcoming observations by Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar
Probe.
