New moon, old moon

The recent announcement on Monday evening by the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal to declare that Hari Raya Aidil Fitri in Malaysia would fall on Monday instead of the expected Tuesday certainly caught my Muslim friends here by surprise. Can you imagine all the last-minute preparations for their great day being thrown into a last-minute frenzy? All those last-minute shopping for new festive clothes but more critically, the food preparations. And all those people who were rushing back to their outstation kampongs and worse still, those that had yet to begin their long journeys home. I sympathise with them.

Of course, it makes little difference to me. Firstly, I'm not a Muslim. Secondly, I'm ambivalent when it comes to long stretches of local holidays. I'm retired - have been for the past 13 years - and thus everyday can be considered a sort of long-term vacation. But I know better than to stroll over to the island. Not during this festive period when the number of tourists in the inner city and the numerous food courts is bound to out-number the residents.

New moon 

But back to the matter of the declaration of the start of the Muslim month of Shawal. It's a moon-based declaration. The appointed Muslim astronomers across the country had been tasked with the responsibility of sighting the anak bulan or new moon. I'm told that there are many rules and regulations for them to follow like, for example, the new moon's minimum elevation in the sky (no less than 3°) and the moon's elongation vis-a-vis the position of the sun (at least 6.4°). If these criteria are met, then, fine, the next day is Hari Raya Aidil Fitri. If not, then it is the day after. This year, nature was telling them that no matter how stringent their man-made criteria were, when the right moments appear, they will be met.

Old moon

Talking about sighting the new moon, I wonder how thin can a new moon crescent be for it to be seen? To be certain, sighting a new moon is nothing like sighting a full moon. With a full moon, you know it is there in the sky: it is unmistakable. I mean, how can you avoid not noticing a new moon that is so bright, clear and overhead? Not unless there is inclement weather. But for a new moon or even an old moon, the crescent is very low in the sky and appears for only a short while before it sets or the day brightens. And it is so thin. So thin, in fact, that it can be missed especially when you don't know where to look.

I haven't been very successful when searching for a new or an old moon in the sky. Many times, I thought it was there but I just couldn't see it. Mainly, the atmospheric conditions weren't good at all. Wet weather. Too much clouds in the sky. A dawn or dusk that was still too bright. The only successful time that I managed to take a picture of the new moon was on 26 Jan 2020 and even then it was already the second day of Chinese New Year, meaning the moon was already two days old. Similarly, I had only been successful once in taking a picture of an old moon and that was on 31 Jan 2022, the eve of this year's Chinese New Year. 

© Thierry Legault

According to a story in the Sky & Telescope website, an amateur astronomer named Steven James O'Meara held the record for the youngest moon sighted with the naked eye.The crescent he saw in May 1990 was 15 hours, 32 minutes old. Mohsen G Mirsaeed of Tehran used an optical aid to view the youngest moon ever on 7 September 2002. At the time, the moon was just 11 hours, 40 minutes past new. The ultimate record was set on 8 July 2013 by a French astrophotographer, Thierry Legault, who captured the moment of the new moon. Its extreme northern edge caught enough sunshine to show up as a crescent. However, only the camera was able to record the historical moment as the sky was much too bright to see the moon even through a telescope.