Jordan | The Jordanian Astronomical Society explains the crescent of Shawwal 1444 AH

Weather of Arabia - The Jordanian Astronomical Society made it clear, in a statement issued today, Thursday, that it is expected that the Shawwal crescent will be investigated on Thursday evening, corresponding to April 20, 2023, stressing that, according to astronomical data that provide vision possibilities, the Shawwal crescent cannot be seen in the sky of the Kingdom on the evening of the investigation day. That is, on Thursday.

The association says, "If we take the condition of the central coupling before sunset and the condition of the sunset day, the moon will set after sunset, so Friday astronomically will be the first day of the new month, but in the event that the legal optical vision used (seeing the crescent with the naked eye or with optical devices) is adopted and vision is not possible." On Thursday evening, Saturday will be the first day of Shawwal for the year 1444 AH.

The association relied on several criteria for the difficulty of seeing the crescent in the sky of the Kingdom on Thursday evening, and these criteria are: The vision will not be achieved according to the Istanbul standard because the elongation will be less than 8 degrees, and it will also not be achieved according to the “Dangoon Limit” standard because the elongation will be less than 7 degrees, In addition to the Yallop criterion, the return criterion, the Elias criterion, the South African Astronomical Observatory criterion, and the Allawi criterion, the vision will not be achieved on Thursday evening, neither with the naked eye nor with the telescope.

And the association shows that astronomical calculations, which are based on accurate calculations, indicate that the central conjunction is the basis, and therefore the lunar month will begin at 7:12 am on Thursday, April 20, 2023, and the sun will set at 7:08 pm at an azimuth angle of 284 degrees, and the moon will set. At 7:35 pm, the azimuth angle is 282 degrees, and the azimuthal difference between them is approximately 2 degrees.

And she explains, that the crescent will stay above the horizon for 27 minutes and its age is 11:56 hours, and the elongation that is the angle between the centers of the moon and the sun is equal to about 6 degrees, and the height of the crescent above the horizon is 5:57 degrees, and the arc of light and the arc of vision is 5 degrees, and the thickness of the crescent or the ratio of Crescent illumination is 0.3%.

The head of the association, Dr. Ammar Al-Sakji, said that the association will organize monitoring committees for the crescent in the regions of the Kingdom based on the invitation of the investigation, which will be called by His Eminence, the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, Sheikh Abdul Karim Al-Khasawneh, stressing that the official and legal authority in the Kingdom that decides the beginning of the month of Shawwal is the General Ifta Department. .