Equal nights and days first time in Ramadan in 33 yrs

KUWAIT: Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Cultural Center announced that Kuwait will, on Saturday, March 16, be on equal nights and days of 12 hours each, coinciding with the blessed month of Ramadan for the first time in 33 years. The director of the Space and Astronomy Museum at the center, Khaled Al-Jumaan, said on Monday that the sunrise on the 16th of this month will be at 5.57 am and sunset at 5.57 pm, so that the day will begin to increase gradually and the feeling of its length will be more noticeable.

Al-Jumaan explained that there will be equality of night and day in Kuwait at the equator by four days, but their equality varies from one region to another due to geographical location. According to astronomical calculations, based on simulating reality in the planetarium, the spring equinox this year will coincide with the month of Ramadan for the first time in 33 years. He stated that the Hijri year is known to be shorter than the Gregorian year and that the number of days of the Gregorian year is 11 days more than the number of days of the Hijri year, so the month of Ramadan advances every year by 11 days in the Gregorian year.

He pointed out that the date of the month of Ramadan varies according to the four seasons, as its timing changes during 33 lunar years to complete a full cycle, which explains why Muslims fast once in winter, then another in autumn, sometimes in summer, and another in spring. He pointed out that the four seasons are related to astronomy and also the inclination of the earth’s axis of rotation at the level of its orbit around the sun, which is classified in astronomy within the rotation of a celestial body around a star and the changes that occur in each of them.

Al-Jumaan said that the equinox occurs only twice a year, the first in March (the spring equinox) and the second in September (the autumnal equinox). What Kuwait is witnessing during this period is a transitional period from one season to another. He pointed out that the difference in seasons is the result of the Earth’s rotation around the sun during the year in an orbit whose plane is inclined at the Earth’s equator at an angle of approximately 23.5, which is the same angle between the Earth’s axis of rotation around itself and its axis of rotation around the Sun.