UK's Royal Astronomers join the hunt for Ramadan's crescent moon

How to sight the new crescent moon that starts Ramadan

Ramadan doesn't begin on a fixed date. Instead, it begins when a crescent moon is visually confirmed. The Royal Museums Greenwich explains the astronomy behind the sighting, including the conditions that must be met: the sun must be below the horizon, the moon must be above it, and the two must not be within the Danjon Limit (roughly 5 to 7 degrees of separation in the sky, as shown below).

Ramadan moon-sighting can spark intra-family disputes

Because different communities—and even different members of the same family—follow different methods for confirming the crescent, Ramadan doesn't always start on the same day for everyone. The result: "moon wars" that pit parents against children, and mosques against each other, on when exactly the fast begins.

Muslims fasting in Iceland face more than 20 hours of daylight during summer Ramadan

In countries near the Arctic Circle, Ramadan's rule of fasting from sunrise to sunset can cause some unique challenges for the extended periods of daylight in the region. Icelandic Muslims have developed pragmatic workarounds—some follow the hours of Mecca, others adjust locally. It's an edge case that illuminates how a 7th-century practice gets negotiated across radically different geographies.

Ramadan is a major television event in the Middle East

Each year, major networks air special 30-episode dramas timed to the month—one episode per night after iftar. Syrian productions long dominated the format, though that has shifted. The season is the advertising event of the year across the Middle East, rivaling the Super Bowl in commercial intensity.

Ramadan will be celebrated twice in 2030 due to the 33-year lunar cycle

Because the Islamic year is 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, Ramadan migrates through every season over a 33-year cycle. In 2030, it will fall twice in the same Gregorian year.

Visa data shows Muslim spending spikes at night during Ramadan

Fasting during the day reschedules economic activity to the night. Visa's spending data shows a surge in Muslim-majority markets during Ramadan at night as restaurants and retailers orient themselves around iftar. The pattern has become a significant target for advertisers and brands.

For the medievals, the moon was a versatile religious symbol

Within the distinct traditions of Christianity and Islam, the moon became a central metaphor and sign for religious teaching. For Christians, its light was used to explain Jesus' humanity with the light of the sun (divinity). For Muslims, the moon represented a cosmic longing for god.

A 101 on why Ramadan is the holiest time of the Muslim year

As a spiritual guide for members of the Brandeis University community, this overview surfaces the highlights to orient readers on Ramadan logistics, practices, and obligations. It's a useful start for those interested in learning the basics around fasting rules, exemptions, the significance of iftar and suhoor, and common greetings.

Laylat al-Qadr: the single Islamic night 'holier than a thousand months'

Toward the end of Ramadan, Laylat al-Qadr is observed, recalling Muhammad's "night of power" when the Quran was first revealed, according to Islamic tradition. The Quran describes it as better than a thousand months of worship. Its exact date differs between Sunni and Shia adherents, falling on the 27th night of the month for Sunnis and the 23rd for Shias.

Tarawih: the special night prayers during Ramadan

Beyond fasting, Ramadan nights have their own distinct ritual: Tarawih, an extended voluntary prayer performed after Isha, the standard final of five daily prayer times. Communities read through the entire Quran over the course of the month alongside these Tarawih prayers.

A diary of fasting through all 30 days of Ramadan

Aramco World's first-person account follows one Muslim through a full month of fasting—the pre-dawn suhoor meal, the hunger wall, the social texture of iftar. Get a sense of the day-to-day of Ramadan with this experiential guide.

The accidental birth of radio astronomy and the benefits of a moon-based telescope

Detecting radio waves from distant celestial objects is complicated by noise from solar wind, which the nighttime side of the moon is shielded from. If lunar temperature extremes can be overcome, the environment may serve as an optimal future home for radio astronomy, a field that began in 1928 when a 30-meter-long directional antenna, mostly out of brass and wood, picked up signals from the Sagittarius constellation.

Look up the date of any Islamic holiday going back to 622 CE

The US Naval Observatory's calculator converts Hijri calendar dates to Gregorian and vice versa, covering Islamic holidays from the first year of the Islamic calendar through the present. The resource helps show how much Ramadan's dates shift year over year and allows readers to find out when Ramadan would have fallen in a certain year.

Ramadan tends to reduce Gulf productivity, but increases reported happiness

Economists have documented a measurable dip in productivity and output in Muslim-majority countries during Ramadan. But surveys consistently show the opposite on subjective well-being, with people reporting they feel better and more connected.

See a lunar eclipse share the night sky with the Milky Way

Photos taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile in March 2025 captured a blood moon and the Milky Way galaxy within the same field of view. The moon appears red from the bluer parts of its reflected sunlight being scattered by Earth's atmosphere.

Simulating the moon's surface in the desert

And why is the next cohort headed there? The geological conditions in Flagstaff, Arizona, can easily echo those of the moon, making the area a prime spot to train astronauts. This article explains how scientists crafted these training grounds and why astronomers are drawn to the nearly century-old city.

Explore a collection of moon interactives from NASA, including a 3D lunar surface explorer, a tool for classifying moon rocks, and an interactive map for observing the moon each day of the year.

The Five Pillars of Islam, explained through Islamic art at the Met

Fasting during Ramadan—known as sawm—is one of five foundational practices that define Muslim life. The Met uses art objects to illuminate the pillars to make the theology more tangible. Ramadan's fast is interwoven with this broader framework of prayer, charity, pilgrimage, and expressions of faith.

The crew of Artemis II captured a photograph of Earth setting as they orbited the moon

On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II astronauts captured a striking image of Earth setting as their spacecraft orbited the Moon, echoing the iconic Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8's Bill Anders 58 years earlier.

Nearly 70% of Muslim Americans always donate to charity during Ramadan

Zakat, one of the core pillars of Islam, directs Muslims to redistribute their wealth and give to the poor. This pillar is commonly honored during Ramadan and likely motivated by the practice of fasting, which encourages gratitude and compassion for those who are less fortunate. Other spikes in charitable giving are seen during the holiday of Eid al-Adha and at the end of the financial year.

India's space program began in a church at Earth's magnetic equator

As the US pushed to land a man on the moon, NASA looked for global partners to help map the conditions of the sky above Earth for launches. After Pakistan's initial attempt was sidelined, India pushed to be that partner. This long read details key episodes of frugality and ingenuity in India's space race, including its beginnings at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Thumba.

Asteroids were discovered by 18th-century planet hunters

While looking for a planet between Mars and Jupiter to coincide with an apparent mathematical pattern in the distances of known planets from the sun, a group calling themselves the "Celestial Police" discovered multiple objects that fell into a new classification.

Just before and just after a total solar eclipse, sunlight can pass through uneven terrain on the lunar surface, producing disconnected bits of light around the moon called Baily's beads.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope—the first major NASA space telescope named after a woman—is expected to survey 12% of the sky in 17 months, a feat that would take the Hubble Space Telescope over a thousand years.

Blood moons only occur during total lunar eclipses, when the Earth blocks the sun, but its atmosphere lets redder parts of sunlight through to reflect off the lunar surface.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan on why iftar at someone else's table is the whole point

The podcast "Not Even Water" interviews Khan about how Ramadan is actually lived, examining the hospitality culture that surrounds iftar, the logistics of suhoor, and what the month feels like from the inside. The episode is a grounded, personal view of the season.

Watch the sunset at Stonehenge during the 2025 Summer Solstice

Each year, tens of thousands gathered at Stonehenge to witness the sun’s alignment with the stones during the solstice. Watch a replay of a lifestream of the event from 2025.

Explore an interactive solar system with 3D visualizations of meteor showers—streams of dust-like debris left behind from comets or asteroids that burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Researchers once thought Stonehenge functioned as a precise astronomical computer

In the 1960s, scientists used early computers to analyze the stone layout at Stonehenge, arguing it could predict eclipses and other celestial events. This BBC Sky at Night Magazine piece explains how the theory arose—and why scholars now doubt it.

Through 2025, two-thirds of known exoplanets—planets that orbit stars other than the sun—have been detected via transits, where the objects cause periodic, consistent dips in their host star's brightness by passing in front of it.

Astronomers can identify systems with pairs of orbiting stars by observing recurring dips in the system's brightness as the stars eclipse one another.

Photographer catches a 'once in a blue moon' shot

A rare "super blue moon" occurred in August 2023, a phenomenon which will not occur again until 2037. Photographer Andrew McCarthy caught a stunning image of the larger-than-normal orb with an ironic twist: a JetBlue flight silhouetted against the...

New ways of seeing the cosmos have redrawn the map of human identity

From Galileo’s crude spyglass to the James Webb Space Telescope, each technological leap has expanded our observational reach and redefined philosophical and moral conceptions of our place in the universe. Identifying signs of life through the study of exoplanet atmospheres would represent the next great revolution.

The space race of the 21st century is focused on a permanent lunar outpost

After decades of dormancy, NASA and SpaceX hope the Artemis program will provide opportunities for lunar resource extraction. Countries like India, China, and the UAE have also shown interest in developing future lunar economies.

Four astronomical discoveries from ancient Greece

Modern astronomy relies on making discoveries without being present on the planets, stars, galaxies, and other objects studied. Imagine the difficulty the ancient Greeks had studying them without computers and telescopes. Yet somehow they calculated precise measurements of planetary distances, sizes, and more. Read this page to learn more about early triumphs in astronomical science.

A readable narrative account of how Muhammad first received the Quran

The story behind Ramadan's origins involves a lesser-known layer of personal drama for Muhammad, who fled the Cave of Hira in fear thinking he had been possessed by the angel communicating with him. Only his wife, Khadijah, was able to reassure him. The first revelation came during Ramadan in 610 CE, but the full Quran took 23 years for the angel Jibril (or Gabriel) to deliver.

Explore a guide to observing comets

Binoculars or telescopes can be used to see vivid tails, glowing comas, and brief bursts of brightness from these celestial objects. For photography, a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a wide-aperture lens, long exposure settings, and accessories such as tripods and star trackers is recommended.

Explore the night's sky from anywhere

Stellarium Web is a planetarium running in your web browser. It shows a realistic star map, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. Using its interface, you can click on object's visible at your location on the Earth...

During Nancy Roman's tenure as the agency's chief of astronomy, NASA launched Stargazer—the first successful space telescope—as part of the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory program.

In 1995, Hakeem Olajuwon won NBA Player of the Month while fasting

When Ramadan began on February 1, 1994, Olajuwon fasted every day of the month while playing for the Houston Rockets. He still won Player of the Month. His story is a fascinating look on how world-class athletes stay competitive while observing their religious obligations.

The first proposed experiment in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) began with the mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss, who is credited with the idea of drawing a right triangle and three squares on Earth's surface to signal to aliens using the language of mathematics.

Asteroids are often unobserved until they are days away from Earth

Even those large enough to cause local or regional damage are too small, dim, and far away to be observed readily from cosmological distances. New tools, like NASA's NEO Surveyor telescope, aim to address gaps in detection systems.

Eid ul-Fitr vs. Eid ul-Adha: differentiating the two lesser and greater Eids

Most non-Muslims associated Eid with the end of Ramadan—but that's actually the lesser Eid. The greater one, Eid ul-Adha, comes 70 days later and commemorates Ibrahim's (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son. It involves Qurbani, the ritual slaughter of an animal, with meat distributed to those in need.

Communal iftars are now a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage

The tradition of breaking fast together where strangers and families share a table at sundown has been recognized by the United Nations' cultural body as significant. The designation sheds light on iftar's social side, beyond just the food.

Scientists used to speculate about life on the moon

In the 17th century, Galileo's observations suggested the moon could be inhabited, leading to fictional speculations about lunar life. In the 19th century, stories were published claiming the discovery of various creatures, including human bats. The Apollo missions in the 20th century explored the possibility of life there, but further exploration showed this idea to be less likely than before.

Explore a gallery of astronomical images curated by the European Space Agency, which includes illustrations and images of aurorae, planets, stars, galaxies, stellar nurseries, exoplanets, and black holes.

A gallery of shots taken during the lunar flyby of Artemis 2

On April 6, 2026, the four-person Artemis 2 crew took photos of "earthset" and "earthrise" from the Orion spacecraft window during their lunar flyby. It was the first time humans had flown around the moon in over 50 years.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Explained: The Year of the Rabbit

One of the world's largest holidays, this visual guide will help you welcome the Year of the Rabbit and celebrate the new lunar year.

Emulating Earth’s light-dark cycle is important for astronaut health and safety

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience 16 daily sunrises, but scientists have learned to try to promote circadian rhythms by phasing through several light settings aboard the ISS to improve astronauts’ sleep and productivity.