The main tidal influence on the sun comes from Venus and the earth because they move in close orbits to the Sun, and from Jupiter which is so large that its influence is pronounced even though it is much further from the Sun.  The average influence of each planet can be normalised into units of the tide raised by the earth on the Sun. If a magnitude of that tide is i unit, then Venus tides average a height of 2.12 units and Jupiter's  tides average 2.28 units.

Professor K.D. Wood of the University of Colorado, has elaborated on the various tidal influences due to Venus, Earth and Jupiter in detail .When the Earth and Venus  are in conjunction (on the same side of the Sun) or in opposition (on opposite sides of the Sun) they combine to raise total tide on the Sun some 50% greater than the largest tide ever raised by Jupiter. When all three planets are aligned their combined tidal effects add together on the Sun's surface.

Dr E Opik has shown that Woods tidal gravitational effects should raise a tidal flow on the Sun with a velocity of 93 cm/sec, compared to 300 cm/sec for lunar tides on Earth) not at all negligible!At this velocity and with the solar gravity acceleration 27.6 times the terrestrial, Opik calculates a tidal displacement over one half of the Sun's rotation of 560 km in a horizontal direction which may suffice to trigger off some unspecified instabilities leading to sunspot activity. No one has yet proposed a specific and detailed mechanism for the interaction of planetary resonances and solar activity characteristics.

The Jupiter effect John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann Fontana /Collins 1974

Denise Prichard: emailto:creators@es.co.nz