On September 29, 2008, 10-year-old Khaled Dhafer joined a group of fellow stargazers near the summit of Al Ain’s Jebel Hafeet.
They had gathered to observe the appearance of the hilal, or new moon, whose sighting heralds the end of Ramadan and with it the arrival of Eid Al Fitr, the festival of the breaking of the fast.
Whether Khaled was successful in his observation hasn’t been recorded, but when Ramadan falls during summer, heat, humidity, haze and dust can make hilal observations difficult, something that’s exacerbated by the new moon’s faintness and the brevity of its appearance.
The telescope in this picture was set up by the Green Emirates Mobile Observatory, a voluntary outreach programme that travels throughout the UAE in a 4x4, introducing astronomy to the public.
Earlier this year the Observatory celebrated its 14th anniversary and with it the inauguration of its very latest piece of equipment. With its 610mm mirror and a focal length of more than 3.6 metres, the Corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope can capture 8,000 times more light than the unaided human eye, which should make future sightings of the hilal significantly less difficult.
* Nick Leech