The Sun is not a calm sphere but a boiling cauldron that follows its own rhythms. Roughly every 11 years, its activity peaks: more dark spots appear on its surface, and streams of charged particles fly into space. But hidden within this grand cycle is a shorter one — about 1.7 years. Known as the quasi-biennial oscillation, it governs the frequency of strong flares.

Scientists studied 72 events when particles from the Sun reached Earth in particularly powerful streams, and 37 strong X-ray flares. They found that these events recur with a period of 1.723 years. This number is no coincidence: it almost exactly matches the rhythm of tidal forces created by three planets — Venus, Earth, and Jupiter. When they align in a certain configuration, their combined gravitational pull slightly stretches and compresses the Sun, much as the Moon stretches Earth's oceans.

This tidal rhythm acts like a conductor, setting the tempo for internal waves in the zone where solar material begins to mix. These waves rise to the surface and trigger flares. Recent events — the powerful solar storm on May 10, 2024, and the strong flare on February 1, 2026—coincided with peaks in this tidal influence.

If this rhythm holds up, we'll have a simple calendar for predicting dangerous solar storms. Just knowing the positions of the three planets could tell us when the Sun is more likely to sneeze in Earth's direction.