MAG at Athens observatory to sight new moon

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The evening of Tuesday August 10, 2010 representatives of all Muslim communities responded to the call of the Muslim Association of Greece and met at Pendeli Observatory for the third year in order to sight the new moon for themselves that will start the beginning of the Ramadan month.

With great pleasure, the Athens Observatory (www.noa.gr) responds to our request for sighting the new moon with our the eyes of the reps of Muslims of Attica. Distinguishes scientists explain the phenomenon of new moon and reply to the questions of the participants. Everyone of them have the chance to look at the telescope. This year, like last year, we were hosted by Dr. Anastasios Dapergolas who responded to many questions and explained that new moon is a global phenomenon, not a local one, subsequently the only thing that changes is the local time of each country.

People from all lengths of the Muslim world were present. From Morocco to Bangladesh, from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan, Kurds, and of course Greeks. Among us was the honored guest of MAG, imam of Al Azhar university sheikh Mohammed Abdelsalam. All together we left to inform the prayer places of the common decision, based on the astronomical data of Pendeli Observatory, that the new moon is born and the forst of Ramadan is August 11^th, 2010. So the Taraweeh prayer at the praying places of Attica has started on Tuesday night at 10.

Ramadan Kareem

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