Abdullah Al-Haqim 
The days passed quickly, and here we are approaching the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, and everyone wonders about the Eid al -Fitr date this year, and will the Arab countries agree around it or will it differ?
The moment of conjugation
To understand the astronomical idea of exploring the people of Hijri months, let’s start from the moment of conjugation, which is the moment when the moon passes next to the sun in the sky, and it occurs during the day, of course, we cannot see it, but the astronomers can calculate it.
From our perspective on Earth, the moon – which revolves around the sun once every 28 days – appears to pass by the sun, but what really happens is that the sun is very far away, at a distance of about 150 million kilometers, while the moon revolves around the Earth at a distance of about 400 thousand kilometers only.
After the moment of conjugation occurs, the moon continues to move away from the sun in the sky, and after half a day to the day it can appear in the sky at night as a clear crescent that we see with our own eyes in the sky, because it completely moved away from the sunlight, so it sets and leaves it as a mounted.
When is Eid?
This year, most of the Arab countries will go out to search for the crescent after sunset on the 29th of Ramadan, corresponding to Saturday 29 March, and the association will occur at 13:58 pm Doha time this day, according to the American Space and Aviation Agency (NASA), and the moment of conjugation is fixed for all the world.
This little time is left for the crescent to be apparent in the sky of the night above the horizon after sunset, which means that the possibility of seeing the crescent is very low.
According to the International Astronomy Center, the vision of the crescent on this day is not possible with the naked eye or the telescope, despite the sunset after sunset and the conjugation before sunset, due to the lack of lighting of the crescent and/or because of its proximity to the horizon.
According to the Robert E scale. Van Gent, a professor of mathematics from the Dutch University of Utrecht, has developed a measure of the monitoring of the family, the vision of the crescent on March 29 at sunset is not possible in the Arab world, because the distance between the moon and the sun is less than Dangon’s limit, a limit that can see the lunar crescent.
Potential
But despite this, the monitoring tools have advanced a lot, and it is possible to monitor the crescent in any place through advanced telescopes that use daytime photography techniques, and astronomical calculations serve this aspect of vision, as they confirm the presence of the moon in the sky between the moment of conjugation and the sunset of this day.
This means that for the countries that began to fast on March 1, which are the majority of Arab countries, there is a possibility that Al -Hilal will not see the usual monitoring techniques, and here these countries may announce on March 30 to the month of Ramadan, and here will be Monday, March 31, the month of Shawwal.
But that is not certain, as these countries may adopt other vision criteria, which makes March 30 the beginning of the month of Shawwal, and appreciation varies from one country to another according to the rules on which specialists and jurists in that country are based, and the association of the moon near the sunset opens this year, the door for a possible difference between some countries of the Arab world at the date of Eid Al -Fitr.
As for the countries whose fasting began late, such as Morocco, which started Ramadan on March 2, the vision of the crescent will be possible with the naked eye in the case of the full atmosphere and monitoring by an experienced monitor, and of course it is possible with regular visual telescopes, on March 30, corresponding to 29 Ramadan for her.
Therefore, the state of Morocco is likely to announce the next 31 March, the beginning of the month of Shawwal, and the first day of Eid Al -Fitr.
