Long-term variations in solar activity and planetary configurations

We have analyzed the data on yearly mean international sunspot number (R_Z) during the period 1610 - 2015 and orbital positions (ecliptic longitudes) of the giant planets in each 10-day interval during the period 1600 - 2099. We determined mean absolute difference (>$\overline{\psi _D}$>) of the orbital positions of the giant planets in each interval. We find that there exits a good correlation between cycle amplitude (R_M, i.e. the maximum value of R_Z) and the value of >$\overline{\psi _D}$> at cycle maximum, suggesting that on longer time scales low/high solar activity associated with less/large spread in orbital positions of the giant planets (i.e. with a low/high value of >$\overline{\psi _D}$>).