BBC News - Is our Sun falling silent ?
▻http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25743806
Le plus faible des maximums solaires depuis 100 ans
“If you want to go back to see when the Sun was this inactive... you’ve got to go back about 100 years,” says [Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire].
This solar lull is baffling scientists, because right now the Sun should be awash with activity.
The Sun’s activity may be falling faster than at any time in 10,000 years
It has reached its solar maximum, the point in its 11-year cycle where activity is at a peak.
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The drop off in activity is happening surprisingly quickly, and scientists are now watching closely to see if it will continue to plummet.
“It could mean a very, very inactive star, it would feel like the Sun is asleep... a very dormant ball of gas at the centre of our Solar System,” explains [Dr Lucie Green, from University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory].
This, though, would certainly not be the first time this has happened.
During the latter half of the 17th Century, the Sun went through an extremely quiet phase - a period called the Maunder Minimum.
Historical records reveal that sunspots virtually disappeared during this time.
Dr Green says: " There is a very strong hint that the Sun is acting in the same way now as it did in the run-up to the Maunder Minimum."