Space authorities across the globe have expressed their concerns as the sun is reportedly going in a ‘lockdown’ period. As per reports, this lockdown period of the sun will mark a dramatic decrease in solar radiation on the surface of the sun. This phenomenon has been termed as solar minimum.
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Sun in lockdown
The coronavirus outbreak across the globe has evidently raised numerous issues surrounding the health and safety of the global population. But, the solar minimum has now reportedly sparked fears of being the next big threat to humanity. Sun being in the lockdown period has increased the chances of severe cold, drought, earthquakes and other natural calamities on earth. Sun’s magnetic field is suspected to have weakened by many scientists around the world, which results in extra cosmic rays to enter the solar system.
Image courtesy – Vivek Doshi on Unsplash
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NASA scientists have also expressed concern that this could lead to an event like Dalton Minimum. From 1790 to 1830 due to Dalton Minimum, there was huge destruction on the earth as many rivers in Europe froze and major crops were spoiled. Whereas, in July 1816, there was heavy snowfall in Europe. Earthquake-drought-like conditions were also created in many parts of the earth.
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As per NASA Science’s official website, a solar minimum is a regular part of the sunspot cycle. A video posted by NASA back in 2017 had already stated that the low point in sunspots could reach its peak in 2019-2020, which is now being witnessed. As per reports, the sunspots activity fades away to bring about a relative calm almost every 11 years which results in a solar minimum.
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The solar minimum activity can also reportedly lead to the explosion of Sprites, which are clusters of light and shoot up to 60-mile high. Though scientists around the world are now urging people to not panic about the unusual solar activity, it may theoretically decrease the temperature on the earth to catastrophic levels. The deepest solar minimum witnessed in recent years occurred back in 2009-10 but it did not lead to any extreme atmospheric activities on earth.
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