Ramadan crescent to appear on May 16 – NASRDA

The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) yesterday said the crescent for this year’s Islamic lunar month of Ramadan would be visible on May 16.

Muslims commence Ramadan fast a day after the appearance of the crescent.

“NASRDA has successfully calculated and predicted that the first appearance of the first astronomical lunar crescent for Ramadan will be sighted on Wednesday, 16th May,” a statement from the country’s space agency said yesterday.

The statement signed by the agency’s Head of Media and Corporate Communications, Dr. Felix Ale, said the appearance of the moon as calculated by the Centre for Basic Space Science, Nsukka, an activity centre of NASRDA, is expected to signify the beginning of Ramadan next day as would be officially announced in line with Islamic tradition to all Muslim faithful by the President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III.

The statement explained that the first conjunction of the moon would occur at about 12:48pm on Tuesday, May 15, but would later appear in Nigeria on Wednesday at 12.05 hours and can only be viewed with a Charged Couple Device (CCD), an Astronomical telescope, or any good optical astronomy instrument.

The NASRDA spokesman said the moon would be observable in Nigeria with unaided eyes between 6:11pm and 8:09pm, with Port Harcourt, Maiduguri and Taraba being the first to witness it at 6:11pm to 6:50pm, 6:56pm to 7:35pm, and 6:59 to 7:30pm respectively on Wednesday May 16.