By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 6 August 2013:
People around the . . .[restrict]world will be able to see the exact moment when the new moon becomes visible in Libya, through a live internet streaming project.
Astronomers stationed in Tripoli and Amman will be watching for the new moon as part of the Islamic Crescents Observation (ICO) Project, which may help to ease disagreement about the first day of Eid Al-Fitr.
Using astro-photography techniques, special cameras will be used to take multiple photos of the sky, which will then be fed into a computer and monitored for the first sign of the new moon. Footage from both Tripoli and Amman will be streamed live on the ICO website.
Debate is ongoing among Muslim scholars on whether or not it is religiously acceptable to use such techniques to determine the beginning of months in the Islamic lunar calendar.
The live streaming of the skies above Tripoli and Amman will start early on Wednesday morning and will continue until sunset.
To watch for the new moon see: http://www.icoproject.org/live.html [/restrict]