International Astronomical Center

Saturday 03 September 2005:

• Iran:
  1. ICOP member Mr. Reza Amirzadeh said: "I tried by 11" Celestron- NexStar telescope since last month, at this day I aligned the telescope at 05:30 exactly and test it for many object such as Mercury, Regulus. I give Crescent Ra and Dec values per 1 minute, then I observe it at 06:12 corectlly."

  2. ICOP member Mr. Abbas Ahmadian said:

     "Date: 03 September 2005. 
     Location : 46:34:04E,  33:22:48N
     Temperature: 7 c.
     Height: ~ 2500 m.
     Time Zone : +4.5
     City: Elam - Iran
     Mag limit: +6.5
     Seen by 40*150 binoculars.
     Old Moon crescent of Rajab 1426
     See the crescent by Mr. Abbas Ahmadian and Arman Afshari"
     

Friday 02 September 2005:

• Iraq: ICOP member Mr. Bacil Moudhaffar said: "Waning crescent was seen on Friday 02/09/2005 by naked eye with difficulties, horn ends from 4 to 8 o'clock."

• Nigeria: ICOP member Mr. Muhammed Abuja said: "The wane crescent was sighted by me and other three brother at Abuja this morning. Wane crescent rise 05:48 local time. Wane crescent set(disappear) 06:15. Everyone sees it to this time and some could see it beyond this time. Sunrise time 06:34 (due to cloud at the base of eastern sky)."

• UK: ICOP member Mr. Mr. Syed Hashmat Wasty said: "Seeing a new crescent in London is normally not much of a possibility until and unless the age of moon is in advanced stage (28 hours and over) and the horizon in the evening is clear and moon not out of Danjon Line. However the waning moon is readily seen in the morning given that the sky is clear. I have witnessed crescent in the morning several times. Over the last few mornings I have witnessed waning Rajub moon just because we are experiencing clear sky these last few mornings. This morning Friday 2nd Sept 05 I witnessed the last Rajub moon in the form of a crescent on the Eastern sky at around 30 degrees elevation at around 4-30 a.m.GMT i.e. 5-30 a.m BST. The crescent appeared almost horizontal like lower half of a pipe. If I am not wrong, this reality confirms that the first day of Shahbahn will be Mon. the 5th Sept 05 for us and all over the West of us."

So far, the earliest sighting of the crescent was on Sunday 04 September 2005 from Iran by Mr. Mohsen Sharifi.

Sunday 04 September 2005:

• Australia: ICOP member Mr. Afroz Ali said: "The moon was NOT sighted in Australia, today Sunday 4th September. Therefore the 1st day of Shaban in Australia is Tuesday 6th September."

• Brunei ICOP member Mr. Mahadi Mohamad Tahir said: "Tried to sight 15+ hour old crescent but due to the thick cloud in our western horizon, no crescent was seen."

• Iran: ICOP member Mr. Alireza Mehrani said:

  "As I have already informed you, several groups of Iranian observers had 
  planned to observe the crescent on Sept. 4, 2005. This observation results are as below:
  
  Observer – Tools – Place – Resule
  1. Alireza Mehrani – 27x150 bin & 8" tel – West of Isfahan - No
  2. Hosein Janghorbani – 15x70 – Shahreza, Isfahan - No
  3. Saeed Janghorban – 6" tel – West of Isfahan – No
  4. Alireza Khomariyan – 20x120 bin – Neishabour – No
  5. Saeed Doust Mohammadi – 20x120 – Kerman – No
  6. Reza Tayyeb Taher – 60mm tel – Dezful – No
  7. Saeed Jojjat Panah – 4.5" tel – Jahrom, Fars – No
  8. Mohammad Homayouni – 8" tel – NajafAbad, Isfahan - ?
  9. Mohsen Sharifi – 14" tel – Fasa, Fars - Yes
  
  Three members of Mr. Homayouni's group have pretended that they observed the 
  crescent by 8" telescope. But according to our survey, at the time that they 
  have announced the upper edge of the moon was tangent to the horizon. So this 
  report would not be correct.
  
  About Mr. Sharifi's report, please be informed that it's in the last phase 
  of studding. It would be possible that our experts confirm it."
  

• Iraq: ICOP member Mr. Bacil Moudhaffar said: "Waxing crescent was not seen by naked eye with the help of my friend (engineer Mohammed Al-azzawi) on Sunday 04/09/2005."

• UAE: ICOP member Mohammad Odeh said: "Left Abu-Dhabi city to Hafit Mountain in Al-Ain city which is about 200 km away and 1000 meters above mean sea-level. Unfortunately arrived just at the sunset, and due to the bad computerized telescope that I used, I could only do the alignment when the Moon was 0.5 degrees above the horizon! Therefore, NO crescent was seen! If everything went good, I believe there was a chance to glimpse the crescent by telescope, since the sky was almost very clear!" Below is a photo with the telescope at the summit of the mountain.
  

• Saudi Arabia:
  1. ICOP member Mr. Anwar Al-Muhammad said: "I with 5 parsons tried to sight the new crescent of Shaban-1426, 15 minutes before the time of sun set at Sunday, 4th Sep 2005, in the eastern area of Saudi Arabia “Al-Aujam- 26:34N, 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 Jupiter and Venus first then to the moon. The western horizon was clear, such that sun disappeared 5 minutes before sunset time. We could not see it nether by naked nor by telescope. More detail is available at: http://qasweb.org/newcrescents.htm Or qas-forum: http://qasweb.org/qasforum/index.php?showtopic=1351&st=0&#entry4395"

  2. ICOP member Mr. Saleh Al-Saab said: "The Moon altitude was only 5.5 degrees , so I did not make it." Mr. Saab mentioned that he used binoculars.

• Jordan: ICOP member Mr. Tareq Hadi said: "Shaban 1426. Not seen. Amman -Jordan. 10 inch meade computerized telescope. 45mm eyepiece. 100% perfect western horizon . 100% aligned telescope. Shuttled back and forth with Venus and Jupiter but with no luck. View blocked at(7:19 local time) by buildings 13 minutes before official moon set time."

• Lebanon: ICOP member Mr. Ahmad Raad said: "Altough the sky was clear at the horizon, I was not able to see the moon from 18:59 till 19:13. I even used my Digital Camera (minolta Dimage 7i) and tried this moring to enlarge about 20 images took yestreday with no positive results."

• Algeria: ICOP member Mr. Bankih Kacem said: "14 persents, from MERKICH station, have tried to seen the crescent with 05 binoculars (40x08,30x8,50x20,50x-,60x20)but The Chaban 1426 crescent was not seen." Mr. Kacem mentioned that the sky was hazy and partly cloudy.

• Zanzibar: ICOP member Mr. Hamza Rijal said: "In a tiny island of Zanzibar Hilal was not sighted on sunday, the first of Shaaban will be on Tuesday 6, 2005. "Insha-Allah"."

• South Africa: ICOP member Dr. Abdurrazak Ebrahim said: "The Hilaal was not sighted in South Africa after sunset on Sunday, 4 September 2005. The official first day of Shabaan will correspond to TUESDAY – 6 September 2005. My sighting locality was at the Green Point lighthouse in Cape Town. Heavy cloud cover on the horizon to a height of 20 with blue skies above.. Spica, Venus and Jupiter were clearly visible after sunset. Even with binoculars, the crescent could not be sighted."

• Nigeria:

  1. ICOP member Mr. Usman Duhhu said: "Mr. Muhammad Awwal, a member of our society (Moonsighting Society of Nigeria), sighted the moon on Sunday 4 September at Abuja with Naked eyes. He gave me this information when he returned to Bauchi on Tuesday 6 September."

  2. ICOP member Mr. Muhammed Ya'sin Qamardeen said: "Unfortunate I was unable to arrive at the Lagos before the period of observation schedule, meanwhile When I left Abuja this morning it was cloudy and the sky remain cloudy until I reached Lagos Ibadan Express at sun set. I was informed by Dr. Usman Dukku and Abu Abdul Mumin that Bauchi and Lagos sky were cloudy at the time of suuset, so no crescent were sighted at the location. Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affair begins Shaban today August 4, 2005"

• 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 hours
  
  Surface conditions at   18:55 (MST)
  Tucson International Airport (805 m):
     Temperature          =  91 (Degrees F)
     Relative Humidity    =  31 (Percent)
     Atmospheric Pressure =  29.96 (Inches)
  
  Crescent first observed through 8” SC telescope:
     Time      =   18:39
     Altitude  =   8.7 degrees
  
  Crescent first observed through 9x63 binoculars:
     Time      =   18:57
     Altitude  =   4.9 degrees
  
  Crescent first observed through 5x25 binoculars:
     Time      =   19:00
     Altitude  =   4.3 degrees
  
  The crescent was followed in all three instruments until it set  behind trees at 19:15.  
  Even though I knew exactly where to look (due  to the clouds), I never saw the Moon 
  with the naked eye.
  
  Topocentric and local time values from “Accurate Times”:
     Sunset (at sea level)   =  18:49
     Moonset (at sea level)  =  19:30
     Time from new moon at   18:39   =  31 hr. 50 min.
     Moon lag time                   =  41     minutes
     Relative Altitude               =   8.45  degrees
     Elongation from sun             =  13.77  degrees
     Crescent width                  =  26     arcseconds
     Illumination                    =   1.44  percent
  
  I thought that this would be a trivial observation for the evening  crescent.  
  I planned to begin searching in the early afternoon, but  haze prevented that.  
  It seemed to clear a little around 17:00, and I  set up and began searching by 
  off-setting from Venus, Jupiter and  Spica.  The western sky was free of clouds 
  at this time.  I did not  acquire the crescent until 18:39.  Clouds were now forming 
  in the  west, but hadn’t interferred with my observation as of yet.  The  crescent 
  appeared to be about 120 degrees in arc.
  
  Cloud bands were now forming, and as the cresent passed behind one  golden colored band, 
  it appeared to be passing IN FRONT of the band  from the 55x eyepiece.  The crescent’s 
  contrasting color showed  through the band, and the illumination did not seem to be 
  diminished  in the least.
  
  The cloud bands prevented me from measuring the length of the arc  accurately, but there 
  was a definite impression that the arc  decreased in length as it dropped lower in altitude.  
  This is the  first time that I can remember observing what Dr. McNally proposed  should happen 
  as the crescent dropped behind more turbulent air  masses.  Generally I do not even find the 
  crescent if the air is not  stable. 
  

Sunday 04 September 2005 : -

1. Nigeria

Monday 05 September 2005 : -

1. Brunei
2. Singapore
3. UAE
4. Saudi
5. Jordan
6. Lebanon
7. Egypt

Tuesday 06 September 2005 : -

1. Australia
2. Zanzibar
3. South Africa