© Press Association
With fewer sunspots and solar flares, the sun is at its quietest for almost a century.
Scientists believe the conditions provide a new opportunity to study the sun's confusing cycle of activity.
Space telescopes can be used during the extended "solar minimum" to study the sun in more detail than ever before.
More than 1,000 astronomers and space scientists have gathered at the University of Hertfordshire for the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, where they are discussing the issue.
The sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle. At its peak the sun shoots out flares, gases and materials, and dozens of sunspots can be seen. It then goes through a period of calm. Scientists have little idea why these cycles happen, how they affect the earth and when the current low will end.