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Sunspots have not appeared in the sun for 26 consecutive days and experts believe that solar minimum conditions will soon begin to fully produce their effects. The sun follows cycles of about 11 years, where it reaches a solar maximum and before decreasing. During maximum sunlight, the sun gives off more heat and is covered with sunspots. Less heat in a solar minimum is due to a decrease in magnetic waves.
The Weather website website says that it's possible that the sun goes on all month without sunspots.
The space forecasting site says, "It could happen. The sun is spotless since early February.
"Only two days are needed for a full month of impeccability. This long interval of blank suns indicates that Solar Minimum is in progress.
"This phase of the solar cycle brings additional cosmic rays and long-lasting holes in the sun's atmosphere."
Our host star is not expected to reach the solar minimum until 2020, and if the phenomenon happened early, it will lead to a prolonged cold spell.
The last time there was an extended solar minimum, the event led to a "mini-age of ice", scientifically known as the Maunder Minimum – which lasted 70 years.
The Maunder Minimum, which has experienced seven decades of icy weather, began in 1645 and continued until 1715, and occurred when sunspots were extremely rare.
During this period, temperatures fell overall by 1.3 degrees Celsius, shortening seasons and causing food shortages.
In the end, if the sun has to go through a prolonged solar minimum, it is the humanity that could suffer from it.
NASA explains on its website: "All times on Earth, from the surface of the planet to space, begin with the Sun.
"Spatial and meteorological terrestrial weather (the climate we feel on the surface) is influenced by the small changes the sun undergoes during its solar cycle."
The Space Agency adds to its Thermosphere Climate Index (TCI) "a meteorological metric indicating how the top of the Earth's atmosphere (or" thermosphere ") reacts to solar activity": "the top of the atmosphere Earth is about 10 times colder than it was during the Solar Max record of 1957-1958. "
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