Sharjah experts: Ramadan crescent is impossible to sight on Feb 17
Following a careful study and astronomical calculations, Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST) at the University of Sharjah has announced that the begining date of Ramaḍān will witness moon- sighting on this year.
The sighting of the crescent will mark the beginning of the holy month on Wednesday.
Not visible on February 17
The group that did the math said that the Moon enters central conjunction with the Sun (the new Moon) on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 4:2422 GMT. 01pm UAE time. This is at 5.52 pm local time for Sharjah, specifically.
The Moon will only be two hours and 14 minutes old at sunset that evening. It will rise just a few seconds before the sun’s full disk does.
That makes it impossible to see the Moon on Tuesday night, when the Sun and Moon both set so close together.
The SAASST team has confirmed that the sighting won’t even be visible through telescopes — not just in Sharjah and the UAE, but to most of the Islamic world.
Likely Ramadan start date
But on Wednesday evening, Feb. 18, according to the calculations, the Moon age will approach and then just slightly exceed 26 hours and be high up in the sky at nearly 12 degrees 21 arcminutes — all ideal if the skies remain clear enough for a naked-eye sighting.
For surface conjunction in Sharjah it comes to 24 hours 23 minutes at 12.5 degrees.
Ramadan is thus presumably going to be observed one day following — on Thursday, February 19, 2026 — for regions that depend on moonsighting. Some Islamic countries may taken Wednesday, February 18th also, using astronomic evidence only and not eyewitness.
Comments