International Astronomical Center

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on Wednesday 19 May 2004 from USA by ICOP member Mr. Jim Stamm.

Wednesday 19 May 2004:

• Kuwait:
  • ICOP member Mr. Hussain Khshaish: Not seen. "I could not sight the crescent even with 20*60 binocular."

• Saudi Arabia:
  • ICOP member Mr. Anwar Al-Muhammad: Not seen. "The sun disappeared more than 10 minutes before the calculated (actual)time of sun set. Thus, we could not sight the crescent nither by naked eye nor by 10' MEAD LX 200 telscope."

• Jordan:
  • ICOP member Dr. Tarek Katbeh: Not seen. " Two members of JAS (Tarek Katbeh and Moustafa Khalil) went to observe the crescent on the top of Ash-Sharah mountains near AL-Rajef City (220 km to the South of Amman) which is about 1670 m above mean see level, but when we arrived the sky were totaly cloudy!! We didn't even get our 10" LX200GPS from the car to do the alignment process!"

• Algeria:
  • ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem: Not seen. "Two persons were present in the MERKICH station. We have tried to observe Rabi II 1425 crescent but it was not seen. The comet NEAT Q4 still visible."

• USA:
  • ICOP member Dr. Javad Torabinejad: Not seen. "The western horizon was mostly cloudy with a few small patches of clearing."
  • ICOP member Mr. Jim Stamm: Seen. " Time from new at sunset = 21 hours 26 minutes

    Location = Tucson, Arizona (USA). Longitude = 110.9645 W. Latitude = 32.4204 N. Elevation = 842 meters.

    Temperature = 90 degrees Fahrenheit Relative Humidity = 10 percent. Atmospheric Pressure = 29.89 inches of mercury.

    Local sunset at 7:18 p.m. (MST) 19 May 2004. UT Time and Date of sunset = 02:18 20 May 2004.

    Crescent first observed through 8” SC telescope: Time = 7:24 p.m. (MST) 02:24 (UT). Altitude = 7 degrees. Azimuth = 294 degrees. Elongation of the Moon from Sun = 9.2 degrees. Percent of surface that was lit = 0.6 percent.

    Final observation with telescope: Time = 7:52 p.m. (MST) 02:52 (UT). Altitude = 2 degrees. Azimuth = 297 degrees.

    First observed through clouds. Tried with finder - negative.

• Brunai:
  • ICOP member Mr. Hazarry Haji Ali Ahmad: Seen. " Venus can be seen very clearly. Followed by Saturn. The new moon was firstly sighted through the Telescope about 6 minutes after sunset. It was very thin that it was not visible to the naked eyes not until the sky was a little dark. The new moon was sighted by officials from Astronomy Unit of Survey Department and members of the Astronomical Society of Brunei Darussalam." From Shahbandar hill, Astronomical Society of Brunei. By Pg Shahdani bin Pg Anom.

• Pakistan:
  • ICOP member Mr. Saif Qureshi: Seen. "The western horizon on 20th may 2004 was extremely clear and the crescent was seen in first attempt without any difficulty. The crescent was high and thick."

• Iran:
  • ICOP member Mr. Mousa Zamani: Seen.
  • ICOP member Mr. Alireza Mehrani: Seen.

  • ICOP member Mr. Majid Marzani: Not seen. "MOON NOT SEEN. The western horizon was cloudy."

• Kuwait:
  • ICOP member Mr. Hussain Khshaish: Seen. "I & 2 other persons sighted the crescent with binocular at 18:36 and by naked eyes at 18:51 until 19:25 & with binocular until 19:30 .Our local sunset at 18:37 & moonset at 19:56 .Venus was seen easily at 18::26."

• Saudi Arabia:
  • ICOP member Mr. Anwar Al-Muhammad: Seen. "I with 3 parsons tried to sight the new crescent of Rabee-II-25, 20 minutes before the time of sun set in Thursday, 20 May 2004, in the eastern area of Saudi Arabia “Al-Aujam- 26:33N, 49:47E” at the observatory of Qatif Astronomy Society (QAS). We used a computerized 10” LX-200, GPS, telescope. It was clearly visible, we saw it first by telescope and then by naked eye." From the observatory of Qatif Astronomy Society

• Algeria:
  • ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem: Seen. "The rabi II crescent was easily seen from Merkich at 19:45 LT during 01 hour and it set at 19:50 behind haze. The sky was partly cloudy; I have used Venus to observe the crescent; it was not easy to see Comet NEAT Q4 in the Cancer constellation."

• South Africa:
  • ICOP member Mr. Abdurrazak Ebrahim: Seen.

• Nigeria:
  • ICOP member Mr. Muhammed Yasin Qamerdin: Not seen. " Today, about 5 brothers { Abdul Azeez adeleke, Abdul RaufAdesoye, Ibrahim Ayeni, MuhammedYasin qamardeen,Ruqyah, and Mubarak jaji from Abuja,)and a sister try the sighting of crescent here in lagos but due to heavy cloud which we are been experiencing for the past three days may account for our inability to sight the crescent. Also in telephone chat with one of our observer in Abuja reported that there has been rainfall and heavy cloud since morning hour of thursday."

• Greece:
  • ICOP member Mr. Mohammad Odeh: Seen. "I with my friend Osama Khalifah went to observe the crescent from Lukavitos Mountain, the crescent was very beautiful and easy to be seen by naked eyes!"

• Germany:
  • ICOP member Mr. Gerhard Ahmad Kaufmann: Not seen. (Cloud)

Thursday 20 May 2004 :-

1. Kuwait
2. Saudi Arabia
3. USA

Friday 21 May 2004 : -

1. Brunai
2. Pakistan
3. Iran
4. Jordan
5. South Africa