International Astronomical Center

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on 08 May 2005 from USA by Mr. Don Pearce and Mr. Bill Flanagan.

Sunday 08 May 2005:

• Saudi Arabia: ICOP member Mr. Anwar Al-Muhammad said: "I with 3 parsons tried to sight the new crescent of Rabeai II-1426, 10 minutes before the time of sun set at Sunday, 8 May 2005, 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, which is fixed and well aligned. We tested its alignment by pointing it toward Venus. The western horizon was clear. We could not see it nether by naked nor telescope. More detail is available at: www.qasweb.org."

• Nigeria: ICOP member Mr. Usman Duhhu said: "It was cloudy here in Bauchi; therefore sighting was not attempted."

• USA:

  • ICOP member, Mr. Jim Stamm said:

    Location     = Tucson, Arizona (USA)
       Longitude = 110.9645 W
       Latitude  =  32.4204 N
       Elevation = 842 meters
       Time Zone = -7.0 hour
    
    Surface conditions at time of first sighting at
       Tucson international Airport (805 m):
       Temperature          =  78 degrees Fahrenheit
       Relative Humidity    =  18 percent
       Atmospheric Pressure =  1010 mb
    
    
    Topocentric and local time values from “Accurate Times”:
       Sunset (at sea level)   =  19:15
       Moonset (at sea level)  =  20:00
       Time from new moon at   17:21   =  17hr.  43min.
       Moon lag time                   =  45    minutes
       Relative Altitude               =  8.4   degrees
       Elongation from sun             =  8.4   degrees
       Crescent width                  =  10 arcseconds
       Illumination                    =  0.54  percent
    
    
    Crescent first observed through 8” SC telescope:
       Time      =   19:21
       Altitude  =   5 degrees
    
    Final observation with telescope:
       Time      =   19:40
       Altitude  =   1 degrees
    
    I was on the correct field for hours, but no crescent was visible, although I thought I saw something 
    in the correct location about a half hour before the crescent became visible.  After the sun set and 
    it got darker, and I still could see no crescent, I thought that I was on the wrong field of view.  
    Just before I decided to begin sweeping, I saw the 30 degree image.  A minute later, after centering 
    and focusing, the image was about 90 degrees in length.  It kept the same appearance until it set.
    
    Clouds prevented me from observing the old Moon yesterday. 
    

  • Mr. Don Pearce said:

    Sunday night, May 8th, presented an excellent opportunity to observe a “world class” first crescent Moon over much of North America.

    The Texas Star Party ended on Saturday night and I thoroughly enjoyed the programs and camaraderie, but for the most part, the skies were persistently cloudy and disappointing. Then, late Saturday night, the skies began to clear, and upon wakening Sunday morning I saw some of the most pristine skies I had seen in a long time. It was if someone attending TSP had very bad karma, and his/her departure changed everything. Thanks to Bill Flanagan’s wireless internet connection, we were able to ascertain that fact on Saturday night, through locating the cloud cover/ transparency prediction models (Clear Sky Clock) indicating that the Davis Mountains region would likely be clear on Sunday night.

    Earlier in the week we had scoped out the summit of Mt. Locke (elev.2054 m), the home of the Mc Donald Observatory, as a good location with a zero degree western horizon obstruction at the Sun/Moon setting azimuths.

    One of holy grails of observing thin crescents is observing “opposing crescents” (the last old and first new on successive days). It is much more difficult than one might think. I remember that John Bortle, a veteran thin crescent observer, waited almost 20 years to accomplish the feat, and I waited 10 years to accomplish my record observation of opposing crescents on Jan. 27th-28th, 1998. This May offered an excellent chance to observe the May 7th old crescent and the May 8th new one, but, although I had scouted out a good location on the Prude Ranch for the morning event (near the summit of the hill on the western side of the football field), it was not to be as clouds prevented any attempt.

    Bill and I arrived at the summit of Mt. Locke (N 30 40 17 W104 01 25) about a half hour before sunset on the 8th, and set up our equipment. Bill had a pair of 11x80 binoculars on a tripod, plus a camera. I had a pair of mounted 10x70 binoculars plus an 8-inch f 4.5 Newtonian with an eyepiece giving me 28x and 2.25 degree field. The Sun set at 8:39 pm, and the quest began in earnest.

    One of the characteristics of the twilight sky is the frequent appearance of low, thin wispy clouds and the atmospheric pollution band hugging the horizon that is, at other times, invisible. Even though the daytime sky appeared absolutely pristine, these ever-present features became apparent only with the onset of twilight. I had carefully noted the position of Venus relative to the Moon long before the event, but as we began the hunt, for some reason I had forgotten about Venus. After about 10 minutes Bill swept up Venus in his binos, and then it all fell in place for me. At exactly 9:00 pm (CDT) I spotted the ulra-thin crescent in my 10X70 Fujinons, and Bill acquired the crescent at 9:06 pm in his binoculars. The illuminated arc was only about 60 degrees spanning from about 5-7 o’clock, and while it should have appeared slightly tilted to the left, I observed it as being straight up and down. There were times when it appeared slightly broken, and both of us also observed it in the 8-inch. In fact, we observed the tenuous crescent continuously, which I thought was unusual, until it became entirely invisible at 9:19 pm as it approached the horizon, just before moonset at 9:21 pm.

    The age of the Moon at my first observation was 17 hrs. and 15 minutes, and for Bill, 17hrs.21 min., and while these are very young Moon observations, it is not anything close to a timing “record”, but consider the following. When I first started observing thin crescents in 1988, the age factor was paramount, but since then it is generally recognized that the most important factor is the solar-lunar elongation, since there can be a fairly wide variation in times due to the varying speed of the Moon in its orbit, and other factors. Based on the difficulty according to elongation, my observation and Bill’s rank, with elongations of 8?5’ and 8?8’ respectively, as, perhaps, the 4th and 5th most difficult binocular observations ever, according to the Bradley Schaefer list in the February, 2004 Sky and Telescope article. According to that list there were 3 telescopic observations more difficult, and it easily beat my own binocular record of 13 hrs.47 min. (8? 27’) set on May 5,1989. Oddly enough, it only barely beat Kenneth Drake’s binocular sighting of a thin crescent on March 10 of this year which was 8? 11’. Of course, none of these observations were seen naked eye as the naked eye record is 9?8’, set by Stephen O’Meara on May 24,1990.At this writing Bill has reported that the lunar image appears on the images we took with his camera.

Monday 09 May 2005:

• Singapore: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Ridhwan mentioned that it was cloudy and he added: "According to the Singapore Islamic Calender made by Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) that the 1st Month of Rabiulakhir or Rabiulthani falls on 10 of May 2005, 1st of Rabuilakhir 1426H. Thanks to Al-Ustaz Firdaus Yahya Al-Hafiz for making the Islamic Calender and his calculation base on Islamic Calender for 2005 is correct! Thanks"

• India: Mr. Mohamed AMin said: "We could see the clear crescent on 9th of May 2005 and that day it was 29th of Rabi-ul-Awwal. Rabi-ul-thani started on 10th May."

• Iran: ICOP member Mr. Alireza Mehrani mentioned that the crescent was seen by both; naked eye and binoculars.

• Iraq: ICOP member Mr. Bacil Moudhaffar mentioned that he was able to see the crescent by naked eye.

• UAE: ICOP member Mr. Abdulkarim Chalermthai said: "Seen crescent 'by naked eyes' very thin above azimuth 290 deegree"

• Malawi: Mr. Yusuf Lambat said: " We sighted the Hilal last night (09 May) in Blantyre, Malawi. We were 5 altogether with Mufti of Blantyre Masjid."

• Tanzania (Zanzibar): ICOP member Mr. Hamza Rijal said: "I have been with my team and we have struggle a lot, however Mufti Office have confirmed that Hilla has been sighted in the North of Unguja."

• South Africa: ICOP member Dr. Abdurrazak Ebrahim said: "The Hilaal was sighted in three localities in South Africa this Monday evening (9/5/2005) which was the end of the 29th day of Rabi-ul Awwal. The localities were Signal Hill, Stellenbosch, and Waterval. The official first day of Rabi-ul Thani 1426 AH will correspond to Tuesday - 10 May 2005."

• Nigeria:
  • ICOP member Mr. Muhammed Ya'sin Qamardeen said: "Here in Lagos this evening, we try to observed the Hilal of Rabiul Thanni, but due to cloudiness at western sky the new crescent and the beautiful Venus is not visible. Besides, report from other part of the country side here in Nigeria indicate negative sighting due to heavy cloud as result of early rainfall, report are collected from Sokoto, and Bauchi at the time of filling in this information."

  • ICOP member Mr. Oba Ibrahim said: "I tried to see if the crescent could appear as expected but wasn't seen." He added that it was partly cloudy.

  • ICOP member Mr. Usman Duhhu said: "It was cloudy, in fact raining, here in Bauchi; therefore sighting was not attempted."

• Germany: ICOP member Mr. Gerhard Ahmad Kaufmann mentioned it was partly cloudy.

• USA: ICOP member Dr. Muhammad Hafiz said: "I tried to observe the Hilaal on Sunday, 8th May, 2005 after sunset. Its was not seen as predicted by calculation. I observed the Hilaal on Monday, 9th May, 2005 after sunset at 8:20 PM in Opa Locka, Florida, USA. The Official first day for Rabi Al Thani in the USA and Guyana is Tuesday, 10th May, 2005."

1. Iraq
2. Saudi Arabia

Tuesday 10 May 2005 : -

1. Singapore
2. India
3. Iran
4. Jordan
5. Tanzania
6. South Africa