The Moon tonight and the next crescent
See tonight's moon, when it rises and sets in your city, when the next new and full moon are, and whether the crescent of the next Hijri month should be visible.
Worked out on your phone. Nothing is uploaded or saved, and your location (if you use it) never leaves your device.
How the crescent estimate works
At the moment of new moon (the conjunction) the Moon sits between us and the Sun with its dark side towards us. Over the next day or two it moves away from the Sun, and a thin lit edge appears low in the west just after sunset.
Two things matter most: how high the Moon is above the Sun when the sky gets dark enough, and how thick the lit crescent is. A crescent that is too thin or too low is lost in the glow of the sunset.
This page uses the criterion published by Mohammad Odeh of the International Astronomical Center in Abu Dhabi, built from 737 recorded sightings. It compares the Moon's height above the Sun with the crescent's width at the best time to look, a little after sunset.
In the UAE the start of a Hijri month, including Ramadan and the Eids, is announced by the official moon-sighting committee, set up by the Minister of Justice, after reports from people who watch for the crescent. This page is an astronomical estimate only.
Sources: Moon and Sun positions, phases, moonrise and moonset from Astronomy Engine by Don Cross (MIT licence), checked against NASA JPL Horizons to within about 1 arcminute. Crescent visibility: Mohammad Sh. Odeh, "New Criterion for Lunar Crescent Visibility", Experimental Astronomy volume 18, pages 39–64 (2006), built from 737 observations, which uses ARCV (the Moon's height above the Sun, without refraction) and W (the crescent's width) seen from the observer, at the best time: sunset plus 4/9 of the time between sunset and moonset (from B. D. Yallop, "A Method for Predicting the First Sighting of the New Crescent Moon", HM Nautical Almanac Office Technical Note 69, 1997). If the Moon is less than 6.4° from the Sun (the Danjon limit) it is counted as not visible. Zones: V of 5.65 or more, visible by naked eye; 2 to 5.65, visible with optical aid and could be seen by naked eye; −0.96 to 2, optical aid only; below −0.96, not visible even with a telescope. Check: on 11 October 2026 in Abu Dhabi the criterion gives "not visible even with a telescope" (V ≈ −1.9); the International Astronomical Center's Islamic Crescents' Observation Project reports that the crescent was photographed with a camera that evening but not seen by eye, binoculars or telescope. The moon-sighting committee: decision of the UAE Minister of Justice, reported by Gulf News. The Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day on average (NASA). The Hijri month name comes from your browser's Umm al-Qura calendar. Times are UAE time (UTC+4), for a flat horizon at sea level. Weather, dust and haze often stop a crescent that the maths says is visible.