International Astronomical Center (IAC)

Activities, News and Statements

2016 Turkish International Conference for Lunar Month and Unified Hijri Calendar

UAE Airborne Mission Succeeded in Observing WT1190F Reentry

UAE Sponsors Airborne Campaign to Observe November 13 entry of Space Debris WT1190F

ICOP Statement Regarding Shawwal Crescent 1435

Live Coverage for Ramadan Crescent Sighting on "Sky News Arabia" TV on Friday 27 June 2014

Sunday 29 June is the start of Ramadan 1435 based on crescent sighting

Solar Eclipse on Sunday 3rd November 2013

ICOP Official Statement for Shawwal 1434 AH

Adopting the Crescent Sighting: Wednesday 10 July 2013 is the First Day of Ramadan 1434 AH

The 11th Edition of the National Festival in Popular Astronomy

ISNA Adopts New Angles for Fajer and Isha

Muslim community in Europe organized a seminar on the Islamic calendar

Communiqué from Muslim Astronomers regarding the “sighting” of the crescent of Eid-ul-Fitr 1432

Live Coverage for Shawwal Crescents’ Observations

Eid-El-Fitr for the 1432, based on sighting,on Wednesday Aug. 31st in most of the Muslim countries

Live coverage for Ramadhan Crescent's observation

Click here to view ALL news and events

Islamic Crescents Observation Project (ICOP)

The Islamic Crescents Observation Project (ICOP) is an international project founded in 1419 AH (1998 CE), and is maintained by the International Astronomical Center (IAC). ICOP is a group of observers and experts who are interested in astronomical topics related to Islamic applications, such as crescent observation, prayer times, Hejric calendar and Qiblah direction. ICOP members who are located all over the world observe the crescent on a monthly basis and send their observation results, which are published on ICOP website after being verified.

Whereas some ICOP members are interested in crescent observations, other members are experts interested in scientific research and astronomical computations in the related topics. For example, many ICOP members publish papers in the refereed journals and international conferences. In addition, ICOP has very strong relations with official and private societies and associations which are interested in astronomical applications in Islamic topics, such as Islamic ministries, Awqaf departments, Islamic centres and Muslims delegations in Europe and USA. For example, ICOP provides them with calculations of prayer times and crescent visibility. Please visit ICOP main page for more details.

This Month Crescent Observation Results: Shawwal 1442

ICOP website contains a dedicated page for each Hejric (Lunar) month. This page contains the crescent visibility map for that month that shows the areas from which the crescent can be seen. The page also contains the crescent observation results of ICOP members which are located all over the world. In addition, the page contains the official beginning of that month in different countries. The visitor should be aware that each page contains the crescent visibility map and observation results for both; New (Waxing) crescent and Old (Waning) crescent.

Current Month Observation Results

Observation Results for Previous & Upcoming Months

Send Waxing Crescent Observation Report

Send Waning Crescent Observation Report

ICOP Observer

Ahmad Amin

Germany

Lastest Observations

12 May · Kacem Bankih from Algeria

13 May · Naser Barbourah from Tunisia

13 May · Hazarry Haji Ali Ahmad from Brunei Darussalam

13 May · AlTayyeb AlSahili from Tunisia

13 May · Mohammadi Dahhan from Mauritania

13 May · Hatim El Harrak from Morocco

13 May · Younes Zkour from Algeria

Salat Calendar

“Salat Calendar” is a website to calculate prayer times anywhere on Earth, and to calculate alternative prayer times in Europe and northern areas when prayer times disappear or become at hardship times. It was created by the International Astronomical Center (IAC) with a sponsorship from Dubai Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD). One the features of the website is that it was prepared by specialized entities in astronomy and Islamic issues, hence it provides accurate times, taking into account astronomical and meteorological parameters, which were calculated accurately. As for northern areas when the times become late or disappear, the website initially shows the actual times without any alterations! Then it leaves the option to the user to keep the actual times or to calculate alternative times using any of the many available options in the Website. Salat Calendar can be used by the layman as it automatically determines the visitor’s country, and calculates the prayer times according to the parameters adopted in his country, and it can be also used by experts as it provides vast options which can be used to calculate payer times.

Click Here to Visit Salat Calendar Website.

Satellite Reentry Watch (SRW)

Who we are?

Space debris continues to fall from the sky on a regular basis. Much of this goes unreported either because little attention is given to it by casual observers. SRW is a collaboration program between international experts in the field of artificial satellites and the International Astronomical Center (IAC). The need for this program arose after two satellite reentires occurred over Saudi Arabia in early 2015, ecpecially because there was no immediate explaination for the objects appeard in the sky at that time! As an average, there is betwen 0 to 5 reentries per day for tiny debris and approximately one big reentry per week for payloads, rockets and big debis.

Kindly Click Here to know more about this program.

SRW Objectives

The objective of SRW is mainly educational one. We aim to spread awareness on this subject to the general public and the astronomical community through the following methods:

• Send alerts to our members before an expected reentry.

• Ask the interested members to observe an expected reentry and report back their sighting.

• Discuss this subject in the mailing list of SRW to increase the knowledge of the members.

• Send news reports to the media, if required, about major reentries that were witnessed over large areas.

Join Our
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SRW Identified
Reentries

Links

UAE Astronomical Cameras Network (UACN)

UAE Astronomical Cameras Network (UACN) is an activity done in cooperation between the International Astronomical Center (IAC) and the SETI Institute. It consists of several astronomical cameras located in different locations and are pointed towards the sky. The cameras automatically record a video file once a meteor is detected. This meteor might end up as just a meteor or a meteorite which could be a satellite debris reenty! In case the meteor is detected by one camera then there is a specific astronomical data that can be collected from the video using a special software. Whereas if the meteor is detected by more than a camera, then the astronomical data that can be obtained will be much more beneficial. Kindly Click Here to know more about UACN and to see the results and maps.

Accurate Times

for Windows

Accurate Times is the official program adopted by the Jordanian Ministry of Islamic Affairs to calculate the prayer times in Jordan. The program runs under Windows, and it calculates the following astronomical events:

1. Islamic prayer times (Fajer, Shuroq, Dhohur, Aser, Maghreb, and Isha).
2. Sun times (Beginning and end of twilight, sunrise, sunset, and Sun transit).
3. Moon times (Moon rise, Moon transit, and Moon set).
4. Moon phases (Geocentric or Topocentric).
5. Crescent visibility for both; new and old crescents.
6. Crescent visibility world map for both; new and old crescents.
7. Calculations for Sun and Moon ephemeris.
8. Qiblah direction (Direction to Ka'bah in Mecca).
9. Qiblah time .
10. Hejric-Gregorian conversion.
11. The prayer call (Athan) launches automatically when it is the time of the prayer.

Click Here for Download

Astronomy Events

Astronomy Events for iPhone and Android

Never miss an astronomical event! Astronomy Events does not only list the important astronomical events, but it also sends you a notification to inform you about a current event. The user gets basic description about each event once the events is clicked. In addition, the application has a News menu in which you can find some important astronomical news. Moreover, you will receive Push Notification for important news such as seeing the crescent in a certain country. Also, the application has a tab for crescent sighting, in which the user can view crescent sighting predictions for the current year and can also read the crescent observation results of the previous months.

The events which this application lists and send push notification for are: Moon Phases, Solar and Lunar Eclipses, Moon Apogee & Perigee, Meteor Showers, Passage of the Moon near a planet or a bright star, Beautiful Conjunctions, Planets Conjunction & Opposition, Planets Aphelion & Perihelion, Comets Perihelion, Planets Greatest Elongation, Planets Ascending & Descending Node, Stars Planets and Asteroid Occultations, Solstice & Equinox.

GET THIS APP!

IAC Blog

IAC Blog is an Arabic blog maintained by the International Astronomical Center (IAC), this blog is an astronomical scientific blog, which is dedicated to the astronomical topics in the first place, as well as general scientific topics in the second place. The blog pays more attention to the astronomical issues related to Islamic topics such as crescent visibility as well as prayer time issues, however, it contains many other blogs related to general and observational astronomical topics. Kindly Click Here to read the blogs.

وعن الشهود العدول يحدِّثونك

تقول المحكمة العليا في بياناتها عن إثبات الهلال دائماً إن قرارتها مبنية على شهادة عدد من الشهود العدول. وكنتُ طلبت وغيري من المحكمة الموقرة أن تبيِّن أولئك الشهود لنعرف إن كان...

حتى قيمة 0.6 غير كافية لرؤية الهلال

بدأت الرصد بحدود الساعة الحادية عشرة من صباح يوم الإثنين 11 مارس 2013م، والرصد كان للهلال الأخير لشهر ربيع الثاني 1434 هـ. لم أر الهلال باستخدام البرنامج الأول، ولم أره باستخدام ال...

التحوُّلُ المُريب

ينشأ عن الاعتماد على شهادة مجموعة حوطة سدير بثبوت الهلال لغط لا ينتهي كل عام. فقد ظلوا يتمتعون بالتعديل التلقائي من المجلس الأعلى للقضاء سابقا، والمحكمة العليا الآن. وكان المجلس يح...

مفاجأة رصد الفجر من الطائرة

ركبت الطائرة متجها من أبوظبي إلى مدينة الرباط. كان ذلك ليلة الأحد على الإثنين. حيث أقلعت الطائرة في الساعة الثالثة من فجر يوم الإثنين 22 يونيو 2015م، الموافق للخامس من شهر رمضان 14...

Astronomical Media Network (AMN)

Astronomical Media Network (AMN) is a network maintained by the International Astronomical Center (IAC), and it is dedicated for the journalists and media staff who are interested in astronomical issues. The main objective of AMN is to create a link between IAC and the media staff to provide them with astronomical information, releases, data and statements, so that we make sure that journalists and media staff get the astronomical information accurately in order to publish it to the general public when there is an astronomical event, or when we wish to publish astronomical articles to increase the awareness of the astronomical issues among the public. Currently any interested journalist or media staff can join AMN as long as he/she works in a media company which works in the Arab World. Kindly Click Here to know more about AMN. Knowing that currently the page is in Arabic version only.

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