NASA predicts solar minimum will be at its lowest by 2020
Scientists are reporting that the sun has been free of sunspots for a total of 133 days this year.
With only 241 days of 2018 passing, that means the sun has been blank for the majority of the year.
Experts warn this is a sign that the solar minimum is on its way.
Website Space Weather says: “The sun is spotless again. For the 133rd day this year, the face of the sun is blank.
“To find a year with fewer sunspots, you have to go back to 2009 when the sun was experiencing the deepest solar minimum in a century.
“Solar minimum has returned, bringing extra cosmic rays, long-lasting holes in the sun’s atmosphere, and strangely pink auroras.”
The sun follows cycles of roughly 11 years where it reaches a solar maximum and then a solar minimum.
During a solar maximum, the sun gives off more heat and is littered with sunspots. Less heat in a solar minimum is due to a decrease in magnetic waves.
The sun was not expected to head into a solar minimum until around 2020, but it appears to be heading in early which could prove to be bad news.
The last time there was a prolonged solar minimum, it led to a ‘mini ice-age’, scientifically known as the Maunder minimum – which lasted for 70 years.
The Maunder minimum, which saw seven decades of freezing weather, began in 1645 and lasted through to 1715, and happened when sunspots were exceedingly rare.
During this period, temperatures dropped globally by 1.3 degrees Celsius leading to shorter seasons and ultimately food shortages.
The blank sun
