International Astronomical Center

The geocentric conjunction (Geocentric New Moon) will occur Inshalla on (Wednesday 29 March 2006) at 10:15 UT.

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on 30 March 2006 from Brunei Darussalam by ICOP member, Mr. Mahadi Mohamad Tahir.

Wednesday 29 March 2006:

• Indonesia: ICOP member, Mr. Mutoha MMC said: "Because according to hisab that the crescent set before sunset, we not tried to observed the crescent, just only to confirm that that the crescent not seen. So that the counting of month Shafar 1427 Hejri 'istikmal' to 30 days according to syariah. The result of Rukyatul Hilal Indonesia (RHI) follow this link : http://rukyatulhilal.tripod.com/rabiulawal1427.html"

• Nigeria: ICOP member Mr. Usman Duhhu said: "We did not organise a sighting trip today because of the solar eclipse. However we did organise a trip to watch the eclipse: five of our members(Moonsighting Society of Nigeria), including the reporter, travelled to a site about 440 km northwest of Bauchi to watch and record the first total solar eclipse in Nigeria since 1959."

• Spain: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad del Pozo said: "The sky was totally cloudy specialy in the west. Impossible to see the hilal. I will try tomorrow insha Allah."

• USA:
  1. ICOP member Mr. Jim Stamm said: "Clouds in Tucson and lack of preparation."

  2. ICOP member, Dr. Salman Shaikh mentioned that the crescent was not seen by naked eye, and it was hazy.

Thursday 30 March 2006:

• Brunei Darussalam: ICOP member, Mr. Mahadi Mohamad Tahir said: "The crescent was seen with theodolite at 7.10 pm at the altitude of about 1deg 40min above horizon."

• Turkey: ICOP member Mr. Gerhard Ahmad Kaufmann said: "While having been able to observe this year's Total Eclipse of the Sun yesterday under perfectly clear skies close to the ancient town of Side (near Manavgat in southern Turkey), today the sky was totally overcast during the whole day. Luckily, the cloud cover opened up a little in the Southwest and West in the late afternoon, so that I could find the crescent by means of binoculars already at 19:00 local time (UT + 3), which was a quarter of an hour before sunset, while being still more than 18° high in the sky. Observation by naked eyes followed 14 minutes later, when the sun had already disappeared behind a cloud bank in the West since a long while. Unfortunately, a broad streak out of this cloud bank rose up rather quickly and eventually covered the crescent shortly after, so that the last observation by binoculars was possible at 19:20, the moon's altitude being still nearly 15°."

• Iraq: ICOP member Mr. Bacil Moudhaffar said: "Crescent was seen very easily by naked eye this evening from Baghdad, Thu. 30/3/2006. but yesterday the day of sun eclipse was not seen even with bioncular."

• Algeria: ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem said: "Mr. TELLAI Mustafa and two persons have tried to observe the RabiI 1427 crescent 'by binoculars' from Merkich station but it was not seen."

• Morocco: ICOP member Mr. Othman Fadli mentioned that the crescent was seen by naked eye, he added: "Official announcement for tomorrow is the first day of Rabia 1."

• Nigeria: ICOP member Mr. Muhammed Ya'sin Qamardeen said: "After almost 30 hours old when the new moon birth occur, I am unable to sight the new hilal of Rabiul awwal at bida, Niger state on our way back from Kanji lake where our club went for Total Solar eclipse of March 29, 2006"

• South Africa: ICOP member Dr. Abdurrazak Ebrahim said: "The crescent was not sighted anywhere in South Africa because of adverse weather conditions. Although 22h00 is the cut-off point for official notification of the beginning of the new month, the Ulama Council have as yet not made any announcement but if they follow the Prophetic statement ‘add an extra day to the month if the Hilaal remains hidden’ then the first day of Rabi-ul Awal 1427 AH would correspond to Saturday, 01 April 2006 in South Africa. I usually drive 35 km to the Green Point lighthouse in Cape Town to the sighting location. The atmospheric conditions were near perfect until 30 minutes before sunset when thick mist began to cover the area and blacked out the sky. This is abnormal for Cape Town at this time of the year. I drove a further 60 km up the coast but the same heavy misty conditions prevailed."

• UK:
  1. ICOP member Mr. AbdurRashid Ayoubi said: "Negative sighting. Sky was completely overcast"

  2. ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti said: "Negative sighting. It was raining and the horizon was overcast [ghaym] at the end of the 29th day of of the preceeding lunar month (Thursday, 30th March). Instead, we received news from Morocco that the new crescent was sighted and that the religious authority there has declared the next day to be the first of the new month. This news is sufficient for us to establish the new month [thubut al-hilal] of Rabi' al-Awwal in the UK, so that tomorrow, Friday, the last day of March, is the first day of Rabi' I; and not the 30th of Safar, by default, following the positive sighting of Morocco, which is in the same sighting zone [matla'] as the UK"

• Norway: ICOP member Mr. Imran Mushtaq said: "The Hilal was observed very clearly and for long time in Oslo Norway, which is a very rear that this happens in the early phase after newmoon time. Congratulation about Rabiul Awal hilal sighting. This is my first early sighting in Norway, usually the hilal is rearly seen in this part of the globe and I'm glad to share these pictures with you from : Oslo(ca. 59.56N/10.45E) taken 30.03.2006 by a Canon Ixus 750 camera. The hilal was observed by the nakes eye."
  
  30 March 2006

• USA:
  1. ICOP member Mr. Javad Torabinejad said: "The moon was very high in sky and very easy to sight."

  2. ICOP member, Dr. Salman Shaikh said: "First tried to see the Hilaal at about 6:35 PM and it was VERY Clearly visible, quite high. It is now about 7:24 PM and it is still quite clear and still high. The shape is about 3PM to 8PM."

  3. ICOP Member, Mr. Qaiser Imam said: "My wife, two children and myself saw the moon on March 30, 2006 at 6:51 PM for few minutes and then cloud covered the moon. I was not able to see moon on March 29, 2006 although the weather was partly cloudy."

  4. ICOP Member, Ms. Mary Singer said: "Thursday, March 30th - the crescent was Not seen from Spokane, wA. The western sky was totally cloudy."

• Guyana: ICOP member Dr. Muhammad Hafiz said: "Myself and the members of Rose Hall Town Masjids and Islamic Center tried to observe the Hilaal after sunset on Thursday, 30th March, 2006 in Guyana. The Hilaal was easily seen at 6:25 PM (Guyana Time). The Hilaal was not seen on Wednesday, 29th March, 2006. Official First Day of Rabi Al Awwal in Guyana Friday, 31st March, 2006."

Thursday 30 March 2006:

1. Saudi
2. UAE

Friday 31 March 2006:

1. Indonesia
2. Brunei Darussalam
3. Turkey
4. Jordan
5. Morocco
6. Spain
7. UK
8. Norway
9. USA
10. Guyana

The geocentric conjunction (Geocentric New Moon) will occur Inshalla on (Wednesday 29 March 2006) at 10:15 UT.

Tuesday 28 March 2006:

• Algeria: ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem said: "Seeing the crescent by naked eyes was tried, but it was not seen. The crescent was seen by binoculars."