Context: The sun is said to have gone into a state called the 'solar minimum' and is about to enter the deepest period of 'sunshine recession' as sunspots are virtually not visibly at all. 
Key Points

• The sun is said to have gone into a state called the ‘solar minimum’ and is about to enter the deepest period of ‘sunshine recession’ as sunspots are virtually not visibly at all.
• Some reports suggest that it has been almost 100 days this year when the sun has shown zero sunspots.
• Solar Minimum is underway and it’s a deep one. The sun’s magnetic field has become weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system.
• The sun is currently in a period of “solar minimum,” meaning activity on its surface has fallen dramatically.
• It is like our sun has gone into lockdown, which could cause freezing weather, earthquakes and famine.
• Sunspot counts suggest it is one of the deepest of the past century. The sun’s magnetic field has become weak, allowing extra cosmic rays into the solar system.
• Excess cosmic rays pose a health hazard to astronauts and polar air travelers, affect the electro-chemistry of Earth’s upper atmosphere and may help trigger lightning.

What is solar minimum and why is it happening now? 

• Sun has a cycle that lasts on average 11 years, and right now we are at the peak of that cycle. 
• Every 11 years or so, sunspots fade away, bringing a period of relative calm. This is called the solar minimum. And it’s a regular part of the sunspot cycle. 
• While intense activity such as sunspots and solar flares subside during solar minimum, that doesn’t mean the sun becomes dull. Solar activity simply changes form. For instance, during solar minimum we can see the development of long-lived coronal holes. 

Deepest period of ““sunshine recession” and adverse effects

• Excess cosmic rays pose a health hazard to astronauts and polar air travelers, affect the electro-chemistry of Earth’s upper atmosphere and may help trigger lightning
• NASA scientists fear it could be a repeat of the Dalton Minimum, which happened between 1790 and 1830 — leading to periods of brutal cold, crop loss, famine and powerful volcanic eruptions
• Temperatures plummeted by up to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over 20 years, devastating the world’s food production
• On April 10, 1815, the second-largest volcanic eruption in 2,000 years happened at Mount Tambora in Indonesia, killing at least 71,000 people
• It also led to the so-called Year without a Summer in 1816 — also nicknamed “eighteen hundred and froze to death” — when there was snow in July
• So far this year, the sun has been “blank” with no sunspots 76 percent of the time, a rate surpassed only once before in the Space Age — last year, when it was 77 percent blank
• Dalton brought on a period of lower-than-average global temperatures.
• The Oberlach Station in Germany, for example, experienced a 2C decline over 20 years, which devastated the country’s food production.