The Ice Age is about to return to Earth because the Sun 'overslept'

A new ice age is about to happen in Europe, after scientists warn that the Sun's activity is significantly weaker.

The number of gas explosions on the surface of the Sun should have peaked during its 11-year cycle. However, the number of explosions has dropped unexpectedly.

An astrophysicist said he had never seen such a decline in his 30-year career and there were fears that the temperature could drop so low that the British River Thames would freeze.

Photograph of the Sun captured by NASA telescope (Photo: DM)

"I will have to go back up to 100 years to see when the Sun was so weakly active" - Richard Harrison, head of celestial physics at Rutherford Appleton Research Laboratory in Oxfordshire, told the BBC.

One of the times when the Sun declined most strongly was in the 17th century, at the stage called Maunder Minimum . At that time, the cold winter covered Europe.

That cold wave caused not only the Thames to freeze hard, but also to the Baltic Sea.

Dr Lucie Green from Mullard's Space Science Research Department at University College London told the BBC: "The event made me and many other sun-science sciences completely unexpected."

After this weak active Sun period, scientists wondered if the situation changed."It seems that the Sun is sleepy," said Green. "There is a strong indication that the Sun is acting like the time before the Maunder occurred."