Hi Jim,
My first thought when I looked at your chart of Jupiter’s distance from the sun compared to the number of sunspots was similar to Swift’s that correlation does not mean causation. And since Jupiter’s time to orbit is approximately the same as the length of a solar cycle it could be a coincidence.

What makes me believe there could be a definable cause is your data shows the minimum is at the perihelion of Jupiter’s orbit. Since Jupiter’s angular momentum is about 60 percent of the total solar system (including the sun) the change in its angular momentum around the sun could be causing an effect on the sun, (similar to the moon’s effect on tides).

A quick check to see if it is angular momentum would be to calculate Saturn’s orbit and combine Saturn and Jupiter to get a combined effect. To do this you would need to make Saturn’s effect only 40% of Jupiter’s (Saturn’s angular momentum is 24 percent of the total so 24/60 = 40 percent). Also as I think about it I would use the distance from the planets aphelion as a measurement (I could be wrong on this though).

If the R^2 number increases you would definitely get my attention.

Also you may have missed the start of cycle 24:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2...larcycle24.htm

Jim

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