International Astronomical Center

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent -after sunset- was on Friday 27 March 2009 from Malaysia by ICOP member Mr. Baharrudin Zainal, the crescent was also seen on this day from Iran, Saudi, Morocco, Senegal, France and UK.

Thursday 26 March 2009:

• USA: Cloudy: ICOP member Dr. Javad Torabinejad from (Blacksburg, VA) said: "Because of a cloudy sky in Blacksburg, VA, no sighting was attempted today (Friday, 27 march, 2009)."

Friday 27 March 2009:

• Malaysia:
  1. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Baharrudin Zainal said: "Hilal of Rabiulakhir 1430 was sighted at UDM Observatory (formerly known as KUSZA Observatory). It was fair weather with some scar of clear sky at western horizon. The visibility occurs on 19.39 local time, for only one minute. The observation using binocular with size 11 X 80. Only two persons (including myself) comfirm the visibility."

  2. Cloudy: ICOP member, Mr. Kassim Bahali said: "We tried to observe the hilal using the telescope Meade LX200 8" and borg telescope 70mm that it was piggyback on RCOS telescope at Al_Khawarizmi observatory near Melaka. Four staff from Al-Khawarizmi observatory and seven officer from ILIM tried to observe the hilal but not seen because the western sky was cloudy."
     

• Philippines: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Abu Ammar Mangorangca said: "The western horizon was cloudy near sunset time and continued to be so at the time of report -- some 30 minutes after sunset."

• India: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Mohammed Mohsin Khan said: "Today Friday 27 March 2009 / 29 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1430 in India. Here in Mumbai Sunset was at 06:51 pm IST and Moonset was at 07:34 pm IST. so there was 43 mins difference but Sky was cloudy hence Crescent has not been sighted in Mumbai and in Most Parts of India. Official Moon-Sighting Committee of Mumbai have officially announced that Saturday 28 March 2009 is the 30th Rabi-ul-Awwal 1430 and 1st Rabi-us-Saani 1430 will fall on Sunday 29 March 2009."

• Pakistan: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Sultan Alam said: "Nearly 200 members and friends of Jamia-tur-Rasheed tried to sight the moon at 22 places in all 4 provinces of Pakistan but due to clouds, moon was not sighted. Non sighting was also announced officially; hence Saturday is 30th and Sunday is 1st Rabee-uth-Thani 1430 in Pakistan. Note : After some days, inshaallah, a detailed report of this observation in Urdu will be available at www.esnips.com/web/moonnewsofjamiaturrasheed"

• Iran: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Hossein Janghorbani said:
  * From: The Astronomy and Geophysics Centre Of Shahreza & Women Astronomy and Geography Society of Isfahan Province
  * Reporter: Hossein Janghorbani, manager of the center
  * We saw the new moon crescent on Friday March. 27th .2009(07/1/1388 according to Iran calendar), in a region located in the east of Shahreza with these geographic coordinates:
  - Lat: 32° N
  - Lon: 51° 52' E
  - Ele: 1825 m
  - Time Zone: +3.5

  The first observation of crescent parameters:
  By: Ali Janghorbani
  Through: 15x70 binocular
  Time: 19:24 LT
  Moon Alt: 9.677
  Elongation: 11.899
  Moon Phase: 1.25%
  Moon width: 0.34m
  Rel Azi: 2.979
  Moon Age: 22h 47m

  The first observation of crescent parameters:
  By: Hossein Janghorbani
  Through: eye
  Time: 19:36 LT
  Moon Alt: 7.285
  Elongation: 11.990
  Moon Phase: 1.27%
  Moon width: 0.34m
  Rel Azi: 2.894
  Moon Age: 23h 0m

  The group was divided two and all of them observed the crescent
  The group members:
  

  1. Mohammad Amini
  2. Qasem Khaleghi
  3. Mohammad Javad Nikeghbal
  4. Hossein Navvabi
  5. Reza Ensandoost
  6. Reza Janghorbani
  7. Ali Janghorbani
  8. Hossein Janghorbani
  9. Hakimeh Ghermezi
  10. Zinat Ghermezi
  11. Parisa Naderi
  12. Zahra Fallah
  

  

• Saudi:
  1. Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Saleh Al-Saab said: "The crescent was about 14 degrees above horizon but the weather was not helping."

  2. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Majid Marzani said: "The crescent was seen by naked eyes and binoculars in Madineh Monawarah. my groups names : Majid Marzani - Ahmad Najmi- Mohamad Anwar."
     

• Bahrain: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. A.Hameed Ali Haji said: "Friday evening 27 March the western sky in my observation site was totally cloudy."

• Algeria: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem said: "The Rabia II 1430 crescent was not seen from Merkiche Station. It was totally cloudy."

• Morocco: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Ehsan Hajar said: "Today Friday March 27th I was able to sight the new Hilal around 1920 UTC which is also local GMT for Morocco. The hilal of Rabee' Al-Thani was observed first using a Binocular 10x50, the new moon was located few degree W of 270 and around 7-8 degrees above the cloudy horizon with tips @ 4 & 8 o'clock. It was well recognized with naked eyes later on for few minutes before being obscured by dark clouds."

• Senegal: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Ibrahima Thierno Lo said: "I have seen the thin crescent myself. The sky was clear."

• Tanzania: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Zaffar Sheriff mentioned that it was cloudy.

• Nigeria:
  1. Not Seen/Hazy: ICOP member Mr. Simwal Jibril said: "It was very hazy, even Venus was not visible"

  2. Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Usman Dukku said: "Due poor visibility, here in Bauchi, we did not attempt sighting the crescent."

  3. Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Muhammed Ya'sin Qamardeen said: "I was not able to sight the new Hilal perhaps due to cloud horizon. Calls from Amir Lajinah Ilorin Kwara State indicate negative report."

• South Africa: Not Seen: ICOP member Dr. Abdurrazak Ebrahim mentioned that the crescent was not seen by telescope, and the sky was clear.

• France: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Rida Roty said: "Al hamdu lillah, I could see the hilal of Rabi-al-Thani 30 minutes after sunset by naked eyes, the sky was clear."
  

• Germany: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Martin Elsaesser said: "Despite a drive of 100 miles, no gap in the clouds could be found."

• UK:
  1. Not Seen/Partly Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Maqsood Fazel said: "Tried to observe from 6:50 to 7:15pm, partly cloudy but NOT SEEN, even used Celestron 15x70 binocs!"

  2. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Abdurrashid Ayoubi from Kettering said: "The moon was 28 hours old when seen very clearly between the clouds. All in UK should start the new month of Rabi Thani tomorrow Saturday 28 March 2009 InshaAllah."

  3. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Suliman Gani from London said: "Over 15 of us sighted the hilal from the roof of Balham Masjid without any difficulty. Mashallah."

  4. Seen: ICOP member Mr. Qamar Uddin said: "This is a combined report from ICOUK members from different parts of UK. I am pleased to inform ICOP members that on Friday 27 March 2009 after sunset, the youngest crescent moon (Hilal) has been sighted in many places in UK, including York (Sutton Bank), Birmingham, Oxford and London. We also received negative reports from other towns (e.g. Edinburgh, Batley etc) due to cloudy sky conditions. Therefore, the Ulama have decided that the month of Rabiul Awwal 1430 AH will have 29 days and the month of Rabiul Thani (or Rabiul Akhir) 1430 AH will start from Saturday 28 March 2009, Insha-Allah. Please see below a list of observer names, together with a couple of photos. May Allah rewards them all for reviving the Sunnah of this months Hilal sighting in UK.

     Qamar Uddin, Report Submitted: 28 March 2009, 12:30 hrs GMT.

     London (South): Shaykh Sulayman Gani from Balham Mosque (plus 20 observers).

     London (East): Maulana Shoyaib Nurgat and Br Abdul Aziz from Masjid-e-Umar, Walthamstow (plus 10 observers), Br Nagman from Madressa Targhibul Qur'aan (plus 8 student observers); Br Yakub from Upton Lane.

     London (North): Br. Abdul Karim and Ustaad Salah Khan from Woodgreen (negative sighting/cloudy)

     Birmingham: Ziaur Rahman from Handsworth Park (with mobile phone photos supplied).

     Batley: Mufti Zakaria Akudi (and many others, but negative sighting/cloudy).

     Edinburgh (negative sighting/cloudy): Wahid Irshad from Campus)

     York (Sutton Bank): Martin Dawson, Philip Jennings, Martin Whillock, Philip Holems (sighting between patches of clouds),;Qamar Uddin, Hatim Salih, Dawood Wilkinson, Qutub Uddin, Zaidan Ali, Abdur-Rahman Alajlan, Sami Alresaii, Fayez Almutairi (negative sighting/cloudy).

     Oxford: Dr. Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti (plus 2 observers) on the way from Oxford to Banbury."

     

  5. Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Muhammad Dar said: "Sky was totally covered with clouds no sighting has been attempted"

Friday 27 March 2009:

Saturday 28 March 2009:

1. Malaysia
2. Oman
3. Saudi
4. UAE
5. Qatar
6. Bahrian
7. Kuwait
8. Jordan
9. Algeria
10. Morocco
11. Senegal

Sunday 29 March 2009:

1. India
2. Pakistan

The geocentric conjunction (Geocentric New Moon) will occur Inshalla on (Thursday 26 March 2009) at 16:06 UT.

Thursday 26 March 2009:

• Iran: Cloudy: ICOP member Mr. Mohammad Zahed Aram mentioned that it was totally cloudy.

Wednesday 25 March 2009:

• Tanzania: Seen: ICOP member Mr. Fuad Bafana said: "Seen Clearly by naked eye from Ilala area of Dar Es Salaam"

• USA: Not Seen: 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 hours

  Surface conditions at time of first/last sighting at
  Tucson International Airport (805 m):
  Temperature = 49 degrees F.
  Relative Humidity = 29 percent
  Sea Level Pressure = 1014 mb
  Slight haze from blowing dust

  Topocentric and local time values from “Accurate Times”:
  Moonrise (at sea level) = 05:29
  Sunrise (at sea level) = 06:16
  Time from new moon at 06:35 = 25 hr. 35 min.
  Moon lag time = 46 min.
  Relative Altitude = 9.7 degrees
  Elongation from sun = 13.5 degrees
  Crescent width = 26 arc seconds
  Illumination = 1.4 percent
  

  I was NOT able to see the crescent, even through a telescope. I began at 06:35 with the scope pre-pointed to the exact location of the crescent (alt.=12°). Periodic checks for the next two hours did not reveal any image. I was hoping to acquire the crescent and follow it for several hours. Then if I was lucky for the new Moon tomorrow, I would have improved on my record of shortest duration for two opposing Moons.