description

On 27 December 1722 a strong to major earthquake occurred in the Agarve region, Portugal. The estimated magnitude ranges from minimum 6.5 to maximum 7.8. Local sources from 1722 are sparse due to the 1755 Lisbon fires as a result of the much larger 1755 earthquake.

We distinguish two groups of converging planetary and lunar geometry in the days prior to the earthquake. The first convergence occurred on 21-22 December when Earth aligned (0°) with Mecury and Mars surrounded by five lunar conjunctions, including Full Moon. This convergence occurred because Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were grouped in the same region of Space next to the Sun from a geocentric point of view. In addition to these conjunctions, semi-right angle lunar geometry (135°) occurred with Uranus and Venus.

The second group of converging planetary and lunar geometry occurred on 24-25 December, whereby the same grouping of lunar geometry occurred as on 21-22 December, but shifted by 45°. Most significant in this second group is the convergence of two planetary alignments (0°) on the 24th involving both Mercury and Venus. The first alignment, Mercury-Venus-Neptune, occurred at 06:41:19 UTC. The second alignment, Sun-Mercury-Uranus, occurred 10 hours later at 16:58:13 UTC.

Hours before the earthquake Venus aligned with the Sun and Jupiter, which may have been a contributing factor in the timing modulation.

geometry

Moon:Earth-Mercury        1722-12-21, 06:15:36    0°00'00"
Moon:Earth-Mars           1722-12-21, 07:52:23    0°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Uranus         1722-12-21, 14:24:19  135°00'00"
Moon:Earth-Jupiter        1722-12-22, 02:54:53    0°00'00"
Moon:Earth-Saturn         1722-12-22, 05:55:03    0°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Venus          1722-12-22, 10:20:34  135°00'00"
Earth:Mercury-Mars        1722-12-22, 14:25:12    0°00'00"
Moon:Earth-Sun            1722-12-22, 23:33:33    0°00'00"

Mercury:Venus-Neptune     1722-12-24, 06:41:19    0°00'00"
Sun:Mercury-Uranus        1722-12-24, 16:58:13    0°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Mars           1722-12-25, 03:46:36  135°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Uranus         1722-12-25, 05:29:07   90°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Mercury        1722-12-25, 07:29:21  135°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Jupiter        1722-12-25, 20:07:45  135°00'00"
Earth:Moon-Saturn         1722-12-25, 22:29:10  135°00'00"

Venus:Sun-Jupiter         1722-12-27, 10:41:47    0°00'00"
					

solar system view

solar system view of planetary and lunar geometry 21-22 December 1722

solar system view of planetary geometry 24 December 1722

solar system view of planetary and lunar geometry 25 December 1722

SSGI

SSGI COMMON graph of critical planetary (PG) and lunar (LG) geometry

map

earthquake map