The Sun is expected to reach its magnetic activity in the current cycle in 2013, and the next 11-year cycle of increased sunspot activity is scheduled to start in 2020.

But, now scientists believe that the Sun could take much longer time to emerge from the quite period, like 70-year-long Maunder Minimum in which no sunspots were observed between 1645 and 1715.

However, scientists turned down some media reports that claimed that a new Little Ice Age is approaching.

Speaking on the topic, Frank Hill from the National Solar Observatory said, “We have not predicted a Little Ice Age. We have predicted something going on with the Sun.”

During a solar minimum, coronal holes are usually found at the poles of the Sun. These holes send to Earth only the slow-moving wind from the holes' edges, not the fast-moving particles from their centers.

Powerful solar storms can hurt satellite communications and power grids on Earth.