Dessau pharmacist
Heinrich Samuel Schwabe
discovered in 1843 that
the sunspots of the sun
increase and decrease
in an 11-year cycle.
Scientists
are puzzled
over why
the solar
magnetic field
also changes
its polarity in
this rhythm:
The north pole
becomes the
south pole, and
vice versa.
In July last year,
scientists at
the Helmholtz
Centre in Dresden
Rossendorf made
a little-noticed
discovery.
Every 11.07 years,
the planets Venus,
Earth and Jupiter
are aligned quite
precisely.
At that point in time,
their gravitational
force acts jointly
in one direction
on the Sun.
“The agreement
is amazingly
accurate:
we see
a complete
parallelism
with the planets
over 90 cycles,”
explains
Frank Stefani,
one of the
authors of
a study
published in
Solar Physics.
Prof. Nicola Scafetta
once interpreted
the conjunction
of Saturn and Jupiter
as the cause of a
60-year cycle.
In the
February 2020
Solar Physics,
he also relates
the longer-term
oscillations:
( Hallstatt
-2400 years ,
Eddy
– 1000 years,
Suess-de Vries
– 210 years )
to influences of
the large planets
of Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune.
Surprising to me:
it's considered
an unusual idea
that solar activity
is influenced by
surrounding planets,
including the Earth.
But that is the latest
news in solar research.
Just as the gravitational
pull of the Moon causes
the tides on Earth, planets
could move the hot plasma
on the surface of the Sun.
But the effect
of a simple
gravitational force
had always been
considered
to be too weak
to significantly
disturb the flow
in the Sun’s interior,
so this planetary
geometry cycle
has long been ignored.
Now researchers
are assuming
that the layers
of the plasma
are subject to
a Taylor instability.
The Taylor instability
is known from the
behavior of liquids
of different densities
at their interface
( think of the turbulence
that occurs when milk
is poured into a cup of tea ).
Taylor instability
is sensitive to even
very small forces.
Meaning that
gravitational
forces of
the planets
could have
other effects
on the Sun,
in addition to
their role as
pace-setter
for the usual
11-year cycle.
For example,
it would be
conceivable
that they
could change
the strength
of solar activity
cycles, like the
“Maunder
Minimum”,
a significant
decrease in
solar activity
from the 1660s
to the 1690s.
One of the first
researchers
who assumed
an influence
on solar activity
by the planets was
Theodor Landscheidt,
who, in his book
“Sun-Earth-Man”
( 1988 )
predicted the
decreasing
strength of the
solar cycle 22,
and following
cycles.
But he
assumed
a different
cause:
The planets
cyclically move
the sun out of the
center of gravity
(barycenter) of
our solar system.