The first day of fasting is most likely to be on Thursday March 23 as significant chances of the moon sighting for the holy month of Ramadan on Wednesday (March 22) are being predicted, which corresponds to the 29th of Shaban.
“This year the ‘birth’ of the Ramadan moon will take place on the night of March 21 at 11:13 pm and will be sighted on the evening of March 22, when the sunset in Karachi will be at 6:43 pm,” Professor Dr Shahid Qureshi, a well-known astronomical scientist and former chairman of the Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science of the University of Karachi, was quoted as saying in Express News.
He said that at the same time, the crescent moon will remain on the horizon for 47 minutes and will set at 7:30 pm.
It should be remembered that at the time of sunset, the age of the crescent will be 19 hours and 30 minutes, during which the crescent will be 10 degrees above the horizon and about 0.9 percent of the moon will be illuminated, while the distance of the moon from the earth is only 382,000 kilometers.
According to Dr. Qureshi, in light of these findings, it will be simple to see the crescent on the evening of March 22 using binoculars from southern Pakistan, including Karachi and Gwadar, but difficult to observe such a crescent without them.
Moreover, he stated that if the first fast is kept on March 23, there is no chance of viewing the Eid moon on the evening of Ramadan 29, but if it is kept on March 24, the Eid moon will be clearly visible that night.
