وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور الحسن طالبي "توقعت حسابات وزارة الأوقاف إمكانية رؤية الهلال كما تؤكد الوثيقة المرفقة، وقد تم الإعلان عن رؤيته رسميا، لكني شخصيا لم أره كما توضح الصورة المرفقة." 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس قمر الدين "On Thursday 19 February 2015, a group us have tried to sight the Hilal of Jumada Al-Ula 1436 AH from outside Dammam, but it was not seen by naked eye, binocular or telescope. The western horizon was clear but dusty, with the sun disappearing completely about 2 mins before sunset (see attached photo)." 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور جواد تورابنيجاد "I arrived at my regular sighting location (The Blacksburg Middle School) around sunset (sunset: 6:05 pm, EST).  Soon after, using a pair of binoculars (7X50), I started searching for the crescent in a partly cloudy western horizon.  I sighted Venus high above the horizon; the crescent should have been to its lower right.  Since more clouds were moving in towards the expected crescent location, I left this site for anther location in Christiansburg, a Town a few miles to the south.  While driving, at 6:37 pm, I saw the crescent by naked eye.  I stopped by one of my sighting locations in Christiansburg to take pictures.  At this time, the crescent was very close to the clouds hugging the lower western horizon.  The horns were at 4:00 and 7:30 O'clock (4:00;6:00;7:30).  Mars was also sighted just above Venus.  I left the area at 6:49 pm prior to moonset (moonset: 7:14 pm).

" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد سوجنج  رياضي "The new crescent of Jumadal Ula 1436 AH was NOT SEEN on Thursday 19 February 2015 from Assalaam Observatory, The Modern Boarding School of Islam ASSALAAM,Pabelan Kartasura Sukoharjo Central Java Indonesia, the all sky was very cloudy.

We were about 30 students of CASA (Club Astronomi Santri Assalaam) and one person from LP2IF RHI Surakarta.

The first day of Jumadal Ulaa 1436 AH in Indonesia will begin on Friday, 20 February 2015 according to the MABIMS criterion (calculation)." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد حسين  جانقربانی ""In the name of God
Jumadal Awwal Crescent Observation Report
Astronomy and Geophysics Center of Shahreza – The Crescent Association of Shahreza
Report by: Hossein Janghorbani (Najm-al-Sepehr) – Manager of Shahreza Crescent Association and Red Crescent’s Astronomy and Geophysics Center
Date: Thursday, 2/19/2015
Location: Damzad foothills in the East of Shahreza (latitude: 32 00 N, longitude: 51 52 E, elevation: 1825m from sea level, time zone: +3.5 GMT)
Equipments: two  set of 15*70, one sets of 20*90 binoculars, one sets of 20*80 binoculars, one sets of 25*100 binoculars ,one sets of 8” Schmidt Newtonian Telescope ,  one compass.
Atmospheric condition: Partly cloudy in western horizon.
Horizon obstacles: about 2° 
Apparent sunset: 17:42
Results: Moon crescent was not seen because was clouds in western horizon.
Observers :
1.Mohammad Javad Nikeghbal 2.Ghasem Zamani 3.Sayed Farzad Alavi 4.Sayed Abolfazl Kahangi 5.Mahdi Ghasemi 6.Shahram Feyzi 7.Ali Janghorbani 8.Hossein Janghorbani 9.Narges Shahnazari 10.Roya Ghermezi 11.Zinat Ghermezi 12.Neda Hamidya 13.Razieh Aligholi 14.Nazanin Piroozmandan 15.Tayebeh Shafiee 16.Zahra Farrokhpoor 17.Reyhaneh Dadvand 18.Mohadeseh Alinejad 19.Sara Hemmat 20.Narjes Zare 21.Ziba Hafar 22.Zahra Fallahi
" 

وقال عضو المشروع الأستاذ دكتور محمد سالم البوسعيدي "The weather was hazy, dusty and slight clouds. The Crescent was seen using camera." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد بابا عبد الله "Date of sighting effort; Thursday 19TH February, 2015. The crescent was NOT seen in this location. I  was at the sighting post from about 18:20 to about 18:55 but I did not see the crescent. The sky was generally very clear with little trace of clouds. Sighting community; Tampei-Kukuo Yepalsi, (near Bi-Water reservoir), Tamale." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد فريد فوفانا "لمعرفة نتائج رصد الهلال في مدن أخرى من فرنسا، يرجى زيارة موقهنا WWW.OLMF.FR" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد قاسم بهالي "The Hilal was not seen at Al-Khawarizmi Obvservatory due the western sky was totaly cloudy." 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور عثمان النافطي "A few of us looked for the moon today after sunset but we couldn't see it.  The sky was only slightly hazy." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد قمر الدين محمد "Western horizon is cloudy, covering more than 30 degree of western horizon, hence making the sun disc to have disappeared as at 18:28 LT" 

وقال عضو المشروع المهندس مفلح عدنان "There was no cloud and dust in the sky. The crescent was seen very beautiful." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد نولار باري "                           Assalamualikum W R W B.

 In Sri Lanka yesterday was the  29th.of Rabi Ul Thani (19/02/2015) couldn't see the Hillal anywhere in the country as the Sunset was at 6:22PM and the Moonset was at 6:47 PM that is 25M. after Sunset at the age of 13H30M.though the sky was clear naked eye sighting was impossible
Today Friday evening (20/02/2015) The New Moon of Jumda-al-Oola 1436 was very clearly visible to the naked eye from 6:40pm as the Sunset 6:22Pm. and the Moonset at  7:45 PM Moonset 83Mts. after Sunset, Anyway our Colombo Grand Mosque Hillal Committee yesterday made a  announcement in the local media to complete the month of Rabi-Ul-Thani with 30 days and start the month of Jumada-Al Oola on Saturday 21st. of February 2015. "In Sha Allah" I have attached photo of the Today's New Moon.

Nular Bary (member of C.G.M.H.C)
Colombo
Sri Lanka
Attachments area
Preview attachment Hilal 200215.jpg
[Image]
" 

وقال عضو المشروع الدكتور عثمان النافطي "The crescent was easily visible to naked eyes.  The results are very much in line with the visibility curves given by Accurate times software." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد سوجنج  رياضي "On Tuesday, Feb 17, 2015 it was very easy to sight the waning (old) crescent of Rabiul Akhir 1436 AH from my backyrd at Bendo Ketitang Juwiring Klaten Central Java Indonesia. This picture was captured just with my mobile phone camera. The east sky was very clear." 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد جيم ستام "Old Moon Crescent Observation Report
======================================
Observed:   Wednesday; February 18, 2015  -  06:47 (Local)

Location (WGS 84) = Tucson (Windy Point), Arizona (USA)
   Longitude = 110.71 W
   Latitude  =  32.36 N
   Elevation =   2003 meters
   Time Zone =   -7.0 hours

Surface conditions near location:
   Temperature =   8 °C
   Humidity    =  60 %
   Pressure    =  30.1 in.

   Haze to the west, but little seen to the east.

Topocentric and local time values from “Accurate Times”:
   Moonrise (at sea level)  =  06:27
   Sunrise (at sea level)   =  06:55
   Time from new moon at   06:47   =  11 hr. 41 min.
   Moon lag time                   =     28  min.
   Relative Altitude                =    5.6  degrees
   Elongation from sun          =    6.1  degrees
   Crescent width                  =       6  arc seconds
   Illumination                       =    0.3  percent


Crescent first observed through 8” SC telescope:
   Time   =   06:45 
   Moon Altitude  =   0.9 degrees

Final observation with telescope:
   Time   =   06:47 
   Moon Altitude  =   1.3 degrees

This was a most interesting and rewarding observation.  It became a priority for Mt. Lemmon because the first sighting of a crescent under 7 degrees was made under similar conditions from the same place, and this elongation was close to 6 degrees, significantly less than the 6.5 degree elongation observed previously.

Planning was meticulous, with a couple of dry runs at the desk the day before.  The sky looked great the next morning, and the temperature on the mountain was warmer than expected.  Aligning the scope took a little longer than usual, but all of the following steps went off without a hitch.  The only element that did not cooperate was the limiting magnitude.  I was charting 10th magnitude stars, but I was only seeing 8th magnitude.  That prepared me for a negative observation.  However, I was pointed really close to the horizon - still in the “red zone,” so 10th magnitude was overly optimistic.  Only one or two of my confirmation stars showed up in the field of view.  That was OK, because I was already locked on the correct location - even two minutes earlier than planned.  Only the focus remained a little less than assured.

When the time came (06:40 a.m. local) to engage the clock drive set on lunar motion, I still hadn’t seen anything except a lot of those “false crescents”.  The physiology of the eye is diabolical, creating arced images just the size of the expected crescent.  Fortunately they were whiter than real crescents are, and they were of the wrong orientation.

Then at 06:45, after getting above the “red zone”, some of the “false” crescents began showing up in the right orientation, and at the right spot in the field of view.  They were not as bright, and much shorter in arc-length, and more importantly, they lasted long enough to see them vibrate when I tapped the telescope tube.  This still wasn’t long enough for me to confirm that I had seen the crescent, but they were multiple, periodically appearing for the next two minutes.    Taken together I was confident that my sightings were real.  I had observed a crescent with an elongation of 6.1 degrees from the sun  ....  EXCEPT  ....  the dust specks on the lens of the eyepiece showed that the crescent had moved about an arc-minute or so during those two minutes.  The movement was up, away from the sun.

The drive was set on “Lunar”, so the scope should have approximated the moon’s movement toward the sun.  That drive movement is constant, while the actual apparent velocity of the moon is variable, so I will need to determine if that factor can explain the movement in the field of view.  Also, refraction is a significant factor near the horizon, so I’ll need to determine if that could account for an arc-minute or so.  Generally, the effects of refraction should be the opposite of what I observed.  If anyone can help me out by suggesting other factors, I’d appreciate it.

Overall, the impression of this observation was that this first sighting was similar to the last sighting of some previous old moon crescents, where I would follow them up, tapping the scope for as long as possible, sometimes even observing after sunrise.

If I can resolve the conundrum of the apparent aberrant movement of the old moon crescent, and then observe tomorrow’s new moon around noon, I may be able to observe “opposing” moons of less than 30 hours.


Observer:       Jim Stamm
E-mail Address: StammJim@gmail.com


The next day:

I set up the scope this afternoon and acquired the crescent at 1:29 local (MST;-7hr).  The first thing that I did was set the scope to follow the moon at the lunar rate.  Just like yesterday, the scope was advancing faster than the moon was across the sky.

I am embarrassed to admit that I should have considered this to begin with.  The clock drive rate would naturally be set at the moon's apparent velocity across the sky at it's median distance from Earth.  The moon would lag as it approached perihelion and advance as it approached aphelion.  The moon was lagging, the moon was close to perihelion, the moon was right where it was supposed to be.

-Jim" 

وقال عضو المشروع السيد سوجنج  رياضي "I see the old crescent of RabiulAkhir 1436 AH on Wednesdya 18 February 2015 from my village Bendo Ketitang Juwiring Klaten Central Java Indonesia. The sky was very clear and the moon is easly visible by naked eye. I just with my friend Ustadz Arif Sajoko one of the leader moslem in my town."