The sun last behaved this way ten years ago - leading scientists to believe there's a solar change on the cards

THE sun could be about to batter us with a shower of deep space rays so intense it could cause part of our atmosphere to COLLAPSE.

Space boffs reckon we are on the verge of a "deep solar minimum", which is a period of low activity.

Unlike the name suggests, this could cause an outer layer of the atmosphere called the thermosphere to contract – and it's not entirely clear what the effects of this could be on our planet.

Professor Yvonne Elsworth at the University of Birmingham believes that a "fundamental change in the nature of the [sun's magnetic] dynamo may be in progress".