Organic Light Pan

Well, as I have done for the last three decades, I went out to look for the new crescent moon. This was an important moon to sight as it would mark the start of Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam. The moon never disappoints, and from the photo below, I think you can see what I mean.

Now that is a pretty stark moon, but I must admit, it was not that easy to see. In fact, I did not see this moon with my naked eyes. I tried my hardest, but it was three of my assistants, as I lovingly call them, who have been my companions when I go out to photograph the moon and for that matter almost anytime I go out to photograph the beauty of our world. They saw it first and were able to track its movement in the sky for almost 10 minutes before I could make a photo. I did not deny that they were seeing it, it was just that I could not believe it. This moon is only 24.5 hours old past conjunction. Its probability of being seen was such that optical aids would be needed to see it, in our area. For me in fact, that was the case with my half-century+ old eyes. But thank God for young sharp eyes! they first caught a glimpse of it at around 8:00 pm PDT, and they were unsure at first. It kept coming in and out of view for them, they kept saying that they saw it, but then were not sure and did not want to commit. But by 8:12 pm, when this photo was made, they were 100% certain and their eyes were locked on it and directed me exactly to where I should point the camera, and sure enough, it was right there.

But that photo above is not what they saw. That is what I rendered from the digital capture to show the absolute grandeur of the moon. This is more like what they saw.

This rendition, which has just been touched up for removing dust particles on the sensor and a touch of sharpening for web presentation. Here you can see just how faint that moon was. I could not see this moon, and that made this sighting very exhilarating! For the first time, My kids were able to out-sight their father, and that made me very proud of what they are capable of. I don’t know how many more moons I will be given the blessing of seeing, and holding down this beautiful tradition has been a trying struggle against an onslaught of calculation-based soothsayers bent on dictating their own beginnings of the months, rather than reveling in the patience that comes with starting the months when God wants us to start it by giving us the gift of this amazing sight. Knowing that my children have the ability to keep this tradition alive is very reassuring and renews my excitement about moon sighting. I pray that they will be the standard-bearers once I am gone.

Anyone who goes out to look for the new crescent moon must know the blessing and joy that comes when it is seen. Just a little while ago, a colleague of mine sent me a message that his young five-year-old daughter started to cry because she did not get to see the new moon because of clouds blocking her view. This is how we should all react! In her still pure innocent state, she knows what a blessing it is to see the new crescent moon, and expressed her great displeasure that she was not going to see it on this night.

Why has the Muslim community forgotten this great blessing? Have we become so blinded by our own knowledge to think that an abstract calculation of probabilities of seeing the moon can be a surrogate for actually seeing it? Plato is reported to have said that he takes as quacks those who establish proofs from probabilities. Why did the ancients know what we have forgotten?

I think it is high time that, in spite of our advanced knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, that we humble ourselves enough to go outside once a month and look up into the post-sunset sky and just allow the blessings of the emergence of a new moon to penetrate our heart and soul so that we too can feel the elation that the new moon brings, and the increased longing when its beautiful sight is withheld. Do not let your self rob you of a great blessing. In 29 days, we will go out once more to look for the moon that is to mark the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Breaking Fast. Make it point to feel, no one else can feel it for you and it just cannot be described, you just have to taste it for yourself.

To all my Muslim brothers and sisters, Ramadan Mubarak!

Until next time, Peace to you all.

We went out this evening to search for the new crescent moon marking the beginning of Ramadan. We will need to be patient for one more day as we did not see the new moon due to dense fog and cloud cover.

However certainty for the start of Ramadan is established, and Ramadan will start at sunset on May 16th, with the first full day of fasting on Thursday May 17th.

None the less, it was always beautiful to be one with creation and along with good friends all seeking the pleasure of our Creator.

Check back tomorrow where I hope to have a photo of this year’s Ramadan moon.

Till tomorrow, Peace to all.

Eons ago, light appeared.  It gives us the ability to see.  The light alternates with darkness giving us day and night.  During the day the source of light, a star that is 93 million miles from the Earth, is so strong that we cannot look into it without harming our eyes.  The sun that illuminates our world is not considered a very bright star among the myriad of stars that exist in the universe and yet it is the brightest entity in our sky.

However, as the sun drops below the western horizon at the end of each day the sky that was illumined blue turns dark and then a dazzling display of stars fills the night sky.  For millennia the night sky has piqued the curiosity of humanity as we gazed out into the universe, and it still does the same today.

At any given moment, when looking at the night sky we only see that myriad of stars as points of light.  What we cannot see is that the stars do move across the sky.  Yes, we can tell they move as we see them rise in the east and set in the west hours later.  However, at any given moment they are just fixed points of light, each slightly different from the other in either color, brightness, or twinkle.

We experience light with our eyes. However, as remarkable as our eyes are, they do not have the ability of persistence of vision. Our eyes function more like sieves than buckets. Photons, the tiny particles of light, that enter our eyes will either instantly be absorbed passing the information they hold to our brain if they happen to be photons in the visible range or they are just ignored. In either case the photons do not persist in our eyes as if they were captured in a bucket.

This lack of persistence limits us in seeing the history of motion that objects undergo. While at the same time it is fortunate that our eyes do not have persistence as our vision would be quite cluttered and possibly very confusing.

Yet with the proper tools we can experience the night sky in ways that elucidate it’s phenomenal nature. With technology at hand, we can augment our vision and see things very differently. The camera is that said tool. One might think that the latest and greatest camera would produce the best photos. While that may be true for most types of photos, modern cameras are starting to behave to much like our own eyes in that they start to fail in capturing light that shows persistence. If the camera keeps “looking” too long, then the physical limitations of the light sensor become apparent and the resulting image will be of very poor quality. The solution to the problem lies in older technology: film.

Film has the uncanny ability to work like a light bucket. Exposing film to light for a brief time causes a photo-chemical reaction to take place in the emulsion that is spread on the surface of the film itself. If exposure is continued for longer periods of time more reactions take place until all of the emulsion has reacted and the film goes clear; producing what is called an over-exposure. However, if the source of light used to expose the film is moving during exposure, especially in the dark of night, the film will not become overexposed even with very long exposures. The film will record where the light source is and through persistence, since once a chemical reaction takes place on the film it cannot be undone, we can see the history of the light source as well.

The Eye Of Night

It’s the perfect tool if one wishes to see how the night sky moves. As the stars move across the night sky, the film’s persistence of vision allows one to see the trails the stars took as they spanned our night sky. The great astronomers of past millennia had great imaginations that allowed them to see such trails in their mind’s eye. We however, due in part to the prevalence of technology, have lost that skill. Our mind’s eye has become dull and untrained. And while we rely on modern technology to see what our ancestors imagined, we still have the blessing of actually seeing the fantastic phenomena the moving stars are.

With the use of a camera and film, the trails taken by the stars as they move across the night sky become readily apparent. The trails themselves will appear different in a geometric sense depending on where the camera is pointed. Point the camera at the pole star Polaris and something amazing appears. Polaris does not move very much at all yet the stars near it seem to sweep out perfect circular arcs. Expose long enough to build the persistence and we start to see a structure that appears to be an eye itself.

I never reflected before on this apparent eye structure that appears in this photo even though I have taught astronomy for years and have watched the sky for many, many more and have imagined how the stars move. Now as I look up at the pole star and the stars that circumnavigate the sky near it, I can’t help but think that I am staring into the eye of night itself.

I further wonder, that as we have been looking up into the night sky for millennia marveling at the stars and the universe, that the universe has been looking back at us as well with one big eye. And if not the universe itself, maybe it’s Creator.

Until next time keep looking and pondering.

Peace.

The new crescent moon of Shawwal 1437 (2016) has been sighted in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Check Crescent Watch for up to date information.
Eid Mubarak!

The new crescent moon of Ramadan 1437 (2016) has been sighted in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Details and photos to follow shortly.  Check Crescent Watch for up to date information.
Ramadan Mubarak!