NASA scientists reported that the sun may be entering a grand minimum periodwith little or even no solar activity.While the sun will be less active, scientists do not predict cold temperaturessimilar to the "Little Ice Age" that impacted Europe between 1645-1710,according to Nationalgeographic.com.
Sunspots are magnetic storms on the surface of the sun. When the sunspot eruptsthis is called a solar flare. When solar flares occur, gas heat of more thantens of thousands of degrees and energy surpassing billions of atomic bombs ishurled out from the sun, according to NASA.
Scientist do not fully understand the effects of sunspots on weather. It isknown that the sun was in a period called the Maunder Minimum during the coldperiod of 1645-1710 which caused the European people to suffer severe hardshipsduring the long, hard winters, according to Science.jrank.org.
During that period, there was a time when sunspots were almost totally absentfor 70 years.
The sun is currently in cycle 24 and it is predicted that by the time the cycleis over it will be only about one-half as strong as cycle 23 was. A cycleusually last for about 11 years.
National Solar Observatory scientist collected data over the past 13 years thatshow a long-term trend of sunspot weakening. They predict if the trendcontinues, the magnetic field of the sun will not be strong enough to producesunspots during cycle 25.
Story by Vickie Frantz, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer
