The Astronomical New Moon is on Friday September 22, 2006 at 11:45 Universal Time (i.e., 7:45 EDT, and 4:45 PDT ). Looking at the visibilty curve one can understand that the moon is impossible to be seen in any continent, although it is possible to be seen at the International Dateline by telescope on September 22. On the same day at west coast of North America, the moon will be about 14 hours old, and about 1 degree above the horizon at sunset time, and will not be visible in North America. On September 23, 2006, the moon will start to become visible, by telescope from New Zealand and Australia, and by naked eye from Southern Africa, South & Central America. If atmospheric conditions are perfect, it can be seen in North America also on Sep. 23.
Fiqh Council of North America has adopted a pre-calculated calendar, and according to that the first day of (fasting in) Ramadan is Sep 23. This dates is based on the criterion adopted, that the moon is born before 12:00 Noon GMT, which also means that such a moon will be old enough to be visible (weather permitting) somewhere on the globe before the end of the night in North America. This moon will become over 18 hours old near the International Date Line (IDL) in the Pacific Ocean at its local sunset time, and is sightable by telescope, if not by the naked eye.
