That would probably be good news for humans facing climate change and a world now dependent on electronics.

While the sun is supposed to be heading toward a peak in its 11-year sunspot cycle in 2012, the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and Air Force Research Laboratory say it lately has been without a jet stream, experienced a fading of its sunspots and produced slower activity around its poles.

Solar physicists are now probing whether this could be the beginning of a second Maunder Minimum — a 70-year period between 1645 and 1715 when hardly any sunspots were observed.

“If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades,” said Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO’s Solar Synoptic Network.

It has recently been feared that a massive solar storm, similar to one in 1859 that sparked fires along the wires of America’s primitive telegraph network, could fry electronics on orbiting spacecraft and on Earth.

This quiet spell could give technicians extra time to design circuits that are protected from such surges.

Some experts believe an extended period of lower solar activity could also offset some of the effects on climate being caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

Animation: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)