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The Sun Has Gone 'Completely Blank', Meaning There Could Be An Ice Age

The Sun Has Gone 'Completely Blank', Meaning There Could Be An Ice Age

Chilling.

Mark McGowan

Mark McGowan

The sun has gone 'completely blank', according to experts. Not the newspaper, that'll probably never happen.

The firey star is at it's quietest level for more than a century.

According to Paul Dorian of Vencore Weather there are no sunspots visible on the sun, meaning a solar minimum is approaching.

Credit: NASA

"For the second time this month, the sun has gone completely blank," Dorian said. "The blank sun is a sign that the next solar minimum is approaching and there will be an increasing number of spotless days over the next few years.

"At first, the blankness will stretch for just a few days at a time, then it'll continue for weeks at a time, and finally it should last for months at a time when the sunspot cycle reaches its nadir.

"The next solar minimum phase is expected to take place around 2019 or 2020."

This could mean a mini ice age could happen, or a 'Maunder Minimum', as experts are calling it.

The 'Maunder Minimum' is predicted to be similar to one that occurred in 1645, when temperatures dropped so low that it caused the River Thames to freeze over.

Professor Valentina Zharkova, of Northumbria University, who predicts that there will be a sharp decline in solar activity between 2020 and 2050, told Metro: "I am absolutely confident in our research.

"It has good mathematical background and reliable data, which has been handled correctly.

"In fact, our results can be repeated by any researchers with the similar data available in many solar observatories, so they can derive their own evidence of upcoming Maunder Minimum in solar magnetic field and activity."

Alternatively, the sun going blank could be the most literal sense of pathetic fallacy following England's embarrassing loss to Iceland.

Words by Mark McGowan

Featured image credit: PA

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Topics: Sun