Washington, June 15 : Solar researchers have predicted that the sun is about to fall into the doldrums again.

Despite all the incredible solar flare action that has occurred in recent months as our nearest star ramps up toward solar maximum, which is expected to occur in 2013, scientists are predicting the next solar cycle
(Cycle 25) will be notable in that it might not even happen.

Researchers from the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory have collected a number of observations of the solar interior, visible surface and corona (the sun''s atmosphere), and all the data points to an incredibly lazy sun in the near future.

"This is highly unusual and unexpected," the Discovery News quoted Frank Hill, associate director of the NSO''s Solar Synoptic Network, as saying in a conference press release.

"But the fact that three completely different views of the sun point in the same direction is a powerful indicator that the sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation," added Hill.

The finding was announced in detail at the 2011 meeting of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, being held at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. (ANI)