http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/tilmari/tilmari6.htm An Influence by Jupiter on the Sunspot cycle? Analysis by Timo Niroma, says "during the Jovian perihelion the sunspot number is always low. This means that if the sunspot cycle maximum coincides with Jupiter's perihelion, the maximum is either delayed, making that cycle long, or it is very low"

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/as...s/980127d.html comments "The sunspot cycle is caused by the flip of the solar magnetic field approximately every 11 years (close to the 11.86 year period of Jupiter's orbit). The exact reasons why the Sun's field flips are not known, but it has it's basis in irregularities in the plasma dynamo at the core of the Sun that generates the magnetic field. It seems plausible that tidal effects from Jupiter are one of the perturbations that cause these irregularities, but not the only one."

http://www.civilized.com/mlabexamples/sunspots.htmld/ plots annual average sunspot numbers and Sun-Jupiter distance from 1750 to 1995, saying "The two curves are similar in that both show about twenty three regularly spaced maxima and minima over the roughly 250 year interval."

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jpdesm/s....html#past_res lists past relevant scientific research (including mention of Ray Tomes!)