Astronomical Observations of the "Ramadan Moon" in Its Last Quarter

The moon will rise in the last quarter phase during the holy month of Ramadan over the skies of Saudi Arabia and the Arab world after midnight today, Monday, and will be visible for the rest of the night. The head of the Astronomical Society of Jeddah, Engineer Majid Abu Zahra, stated that the moon will reach the last quarter at 6:14 AM Mecca time (3:14 AM GMT), having completed three-quarters of its orbit around the Earth this month. One of the most beautiful sights will be observing the moon high in the sky in conjunction with the sunrise on Tuesday morning. Abu Zahra noted that the last quarter phase, where half of the moon is illuminated and the other half is dark, is the ideal time to observe the moon's surface features using binoculars or a small telescope, as mountains and craters become very clear, especially along the line separating the daytime side from the nighttime side of the moon due to the interplay of light and shadows, creating a three-dimensional effect, which is a great opportunity for astrophotography. It is worth mentioning that in the coming days, the apparent distance between the moon and the sun will decrease until the moon reaches the crescent phase at the end of the month, where it will be observed shortly before sunrise in preparation for its conjunction phase in the month of Shawwal.