For the last couple of years the sun has been showing fewer sun-spots than expected. There has been some concern that the sun could be entering a new phase of lowered activity as it did in the 17th century when it went into what is called the Maunder Minimum. This coincided with the little ice age a time of global temperature decline that radically changed world history.
Now there is some evidence that the sun has not entered a new Maunder Minimum.