moonsighting

I saw the moon and it was spectacular

published by You on 19 May, 2018 - 00:23
Crescent moon on 2nd night of Ramadan

I saw the crescent moon the other day and it was pretty impressive.

The only issue is that I did not look for it before the month of ramadan started (and how many of us look for the new crescent at the start of the other months of the lunar calendar?)

It is an important sunnah that is often neglegted.

This year though the Royal Observatory stepped up with helping the ummah carry out the this important sunnah. For facebook members, the can be seen

The Science of Moon Sighting

published by Contributor on 15 July, 2015 - 01:42
Author: 
Syed Khalid Shaukat

This is an attempt to present a clear perspective of the science of moon-sighting and to clarify some of the common misconceptions about moon-sighting.

Main Factors for Crescent Visibility

Most people associate visibility with the age of the moon. The age of the moon is simply the time lapsed since the new moon. Crescent formation depends upon the angular separation of the moon from the sun as seen from the earth. As time passes from the instant of new moon, the moon moves slower than the sun appears to move (because of rotation of the earth). This causes the angular separation between the sun and the moon and the formation of the crescent. This may be explained better with the help of the following figure.