Fastest decline in solar activity in 9,300 years
Could signal a descent into Maunder Minimum-like conditions. “The recent prolonged solar minimum and subsequent weak solar cycle 24 have led to suggestions that the grand solar maximum may be at an end,” says this study on nature.com. The study, published in 2015, looked at past variations of solar activity. In 2010, the study found, scientists estimated a mere 8% chance of a return to Maunder Minimum-like conditions within the next 40 years. However, “the decline in solar activity has continued, to the time of…