International Astronomical Center

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent after sunset was on Sunday 11 November 2007 from Pakistan, the crescent was also seen on this day from UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi, Bahrian, Sudan, Algeria and USA.

Dr. Peter Aniol from France reported that he was able to capture the crescent by CCD camera at daytime on Saturday 10 November 2007.

Saturday 10 November 2007:

• Indonesia:

  1. Cloudy: ICOP member, Mr. Mutoha MMC said: "Sighting the crescent from Yogyakarta, Indonesia (110°22'E/7°47'S) on Saturday evening (10/11). The sunset at 17:35 LT, moonset at 17:51 LT, because moon altitude at sunset was only 2°57' and the western sky was cloudy hence the crescent not seen. Using the "imkanurrukyah" criterion (minimum moon alt 2°) Indonesian Ministry of Religion Affairs has officially announced that the firstday of Zulqaidah on Sunday, 11 November 2007. Visit http://rukyatulhilal.org/visibilitas/1428/zulqaidah.html""

  2. Cloudy: ICOP member, Mr. AR Sugeng Riyadi said: "Observation of the New DzulQa'dah Crescent was NOT SEEN because of the Raining since after Dhuhur until night in Surakarta Indonesia Long: 110:46:46,0, Lat: -07:33:13,0, Ele:111,0, Zone:7,00. And the altitude of the crescent is still 2,7 deg."

• Morocco: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Othman Fadli mentioned that it was totally cloudy.

• Senegal: Not Seen: ICOP member Dr. Abdoulaye Gaye said: "The crescent was not sighted from anywhere in Senegal on this Saturday evening, 10 October 2007 (end of the 29th day of Shawwal). Therefore, Shawwal is extended to a 30 day month, ending this Sunday 11. The official first day for Dzul Qaada is Monday 12 November 2007 inchallah."

• Tanzania: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Hamza Rijal said: "The Hilal of Dhul Qadah was not visible on Saturday due heavy cloudy at western sky here in tiny island of Zanzibar. Ths first day of Dhul Qada is today Monday 12, November, 2007"

• South Africa: Not Seen: ICOP member Dr. Abdurrazak Ebrahim said: "The crescent was not sighted from anywhere in Southern Africa on this Saturday evening, 10 October 2007 (end of the 29th day of Shawwaal). Therefore, Shawwaal is extended to a 30 day month. The first day of Dhul Qada will correspond to Monday,12 October 2007. From my sighting station at the Green Point lighthouse Jupiter and Antares were clearly visible. Very good atmospheric conditions on the western horizon. Could not see the crescent using 10x50 field 5.7o binoculars."

• Nigeria: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Usman Dukku said: "The sky was overcast and dusty, so we did not try sighting the crescent here in Bauchi."

• France: Seen: Dr. Peter Aniol said: "Attached you find the picture from yesterday noon. The moon was 8deg 3arcmin from the sun and 11hours50 min after the new moon date. All in broad daylight of course.
  Location was: +44.01 latitude, 05.50.51east, longitude, Southern France, 568m altitude. (ALCT test station)
  Date: 10.11.2007, Time: 10:52 U.T."
  
  

• UK:

  1. Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Sulayman Gani said: "It was totally cloudy. Also the moon set 25 minutes before sunset."

  2. Not Seen: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti from Oxford said: "Negative sighting. The two of us attempted to perform the sighting tonight for the UK on 29 Shawwal or Saturday, 10th of November, after Maghrib prayers. The local horizon is partly cloudy. We received reports of negative sightings from Morocco and Indonesia tonight. There is no news of positive sightings tonight anywhere East to our longitude, which means that those in the UK should complete 30 days of Shawwal, and that the first day of Dhu l-Qa'dah should fall on Monday, 12th of November. "

• Trinidad and Tobago: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Ali Abdurrahman mentioned it was totally cloudy.

Sunday 11 November 2007:

• India: Not Seen/Hazy: ICOP member Mr. Aejaz said: "The Hilal of Dhul Qadah was not visible yesterday (Sunday) in the whole of Tamilnadu/Chennai - India , even though the sky was clear but smoky. Today (Monday) we have observed the Hilal at 17:55 and the Hilal was visible till after the Magrib. It was visible for about 20 minutes."

• Pakistan:

  1. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Sultan Alam said: "We were 3 persons. We tried to see moon of Ziqadah 1428 by naked eyes on 11 november 2007 from the 3rd floor of our institute situated in Nazimabad 4, Karachi, Pakistan. One of us told at 6:15 that he is seeing the moon, he was indicating at the exact place of moon, he was also describing the exact shape of moon. He tried his best to show us but we could not see the moon. At 6:23 he also told that now moon has disappeared in the pollution. Chairman of central moon sighting committee of Pakistan Mufti Muneeburrehman told me that he has also seen the moon by naked eye from the top floor (27th floor) of Habib Bank Plaza, Karachi, Pakistan. Some other members of committee also saw the moon with him. Moon was very thin. Mr. Murtaza an employee of "SUPARCO" (space and upper planetary atmosphere research commission of Pakistan) told me that he and his many colleagues saw the moon by telescope."

  2. Not Seen: ICOP member Mr. Tahir Gul Hasan said: "Due to the reduced visibility of under 2 Km, and the usual winter dust-haze, I was not able to see the moon even on the evening of Monday 12 November! I guess I must find a decent spot in the suburbs of Lahore to continue this Lunactivity! The way things are in Pakistan, there's not much one can see any way!"

• UAE: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Mohammad Odeh said: "I was able to see the crescent by naked eye relatively easily with my friend Khalid Asharf."

• Iran:

  1. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Alireza Mehrani mentioned that he was able to see the crescent by 7X50 binoculars.
     

  2. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Hossein Janghorbani said:
     Location: Shahreza , Iran (32:0N 51:52E)
     Time Zone: +3.5

     The first observation of crescent parameters:
     By: Hossein Janghorbani
     Through: 30x60 binocular
     Time: 17:14 LT
     Moon Alt: 4.459
     Elongation: 17.886
     Moon Phase: 2.52%
     Moon width: 0.71m
     Rel Azi: - 16.525
     Moon Age: 38h 40m

     The group was divided two and all of them observed the crescent
     The group members:
     1. Mohammad Hasan Sanaee
     2. Ali Mohajeri
     3. Mohammad Ali Khanahmadi
     4. Davood Javeri
     5. Shahram Rahmati
     6. Soroosh Rahmati
     7. Reza Janghorbani
     8. Hossein Janghorbani
     9. Zhila Taghavi
     10. Arghavan Mahmoodi
     11. Parisa Naderi
     12. Batul Ahmadi
     13. Qazaleh Maher
     14. Najmeh Yoosefi
     15. Zahra Fallahi
     

     Reporter: Hossein Janghorbani , The Astronomy and Geophysics Centre Of Shahreza

• Kuwait: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Hussain Khushaish said: "In Kuwait on 11 Nov 2007 in Kabed desert I sighted the crescent only with 8 " GPS guided telescope aligned previous night, on the following order sun disappeared at 16:54, sunset at 16:56, first seen with telescope at 17:14, last seen with telescope 17:17, moonset time at 17:38. The western horizon was hazy up to 5 degrees. Jupiter was seen easily with the telescope before sunset also Antares was seen easily but the crescent was seen with difficulty for only 3 minutes."

• Saudi: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Saleh Al-Saab said: "Today I made the observation on the rouf of my house, but the day before (Saturday) none of KACST astronomers saw the crescent any where by any device, it was less than ONE degree altitude."

• Bahrain: Seen: ICOP member Mr. A.Hameed Ali Haji said: "In Bahrain on 11 Nov 2007 in Manama I sighted the crescent only with ETX125 telescope, first seen with telescope at 17:03."

• Sudan: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Mustafa Almjri said: "The Hilal of Dhulqa'da was seen by naked eyes in Khartoum, Sudan after Maghrib prayer 11 nov. 2007. I am sending a picture, the quality is not the best, but still you can see the crescent.

• Algeria:

  1. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem said: "Mr Brahim Abdelaziz says that the Dul Kida 1428 crescent was seen firstly (03 mn after apparent sunset) at 17:47 LT (UTC+1) and by naked eyes at 18:08 (02 persents for 03 presnt at Merkiche station). The western horizon was superb."

  2. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Houcine Chikh Aissa said: "(09) observer were present in N'tissa station with one binocular. The new crescent of Thul keadah 1428 was seen, the sky awakening unusually which enabled us to see the crescent. Member of the club CHIKH AMMI SAID AMATEUR OF ASTRONOMIE."

• Germany: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Gerhard Ahmad Kaufmann mentioned that it was totally cloudy.

• UK: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Abdurrashid Ayoubi from Kettering said: "Could not see the moon. The western sky was totally cloudy"

• USA:
  1. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Javad Torabinejad from (Blacksburg, VA) said: " We were walking to a sighting location when we sighted the moon with naked eye at 5:30. The actual sunset was at 5:14. The horns were at 2-2:30 to 5:30 O'Clock."

  2. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Salim abu Adam from (Sacramento, CA) said: "The hilal was easily visible in Sacramento, CA Sunday, 11/11/2007 after sunset."

Sunday 11 November 2007:

1. Indonesia
2. Saudi
3. Kuwait
4. Bahrain
5. Qatar
6. UAE
7. Jordan
8. Egypt
9. Algeria

Monday 12 November 2007:

1. Oman
2. Morocco
3. Senegal
4. Tanzania
5. South Africa
6. Trinidad and Tobago

The geocentric conjunction (Geocentric New Moon) will occur Inshalla on (Friday 09 November 2007) at 23:03 UT.

Thursday 08 November 2007:

• Iran: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Alireza Mehrani said:
  Location: Allah-Verdikhan Bridge (33 Pol), Esfahan, Iran (32:40N 51:40E)
  Time: 05:35 LT
  Time Zone: +3.5
  Moon Phases: 3.24%
  Elongation: 19.879آ°
  Original size picture: 3264x2448 pic
  Photographer: Alireza Mehrani
  
  

• USA: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Javad Torabinejad from (Blacksburg, VA) said: "The this crescent moon was first sighted with a pair of binoculars and right after by naked eye (around 6:48). According to (http://www.weatherunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=24060), the sunrise was at 6:53 for Blacksburg, VA. But it is later for our location in the city. The crescent horns were on 9:00 and 5:30 O'Clock. After a few minutes, the crescent disappeared behind thin clouds and making the tracking difficult."

Friday 09 November 2007:

• Indonesia: Not Seen: ICOP member, Mr. AR Sugeng Riyadi said: "I observered the old crescent of Shawwal 1428 H with members/stundents of CASA (Club Astronomi Santri Assalaam) on Friday 9 Nop 2007, since 04:30 up to 05:30 AM. our location is on Long: 110:46:46,0, Lat: -07:33:13,0, Ele:111,0, Zone:7,00. Moonrise on 04:19 AM and Sunrise on 05:08 AM. Even we use the binocular the Old Crescent (Waning) of Shawwal 1428 H was NOT SEEN from our location."