Many are wondering when Ramadan will end in 2023. This year, Ramadan began on Thursday, March 23 and has been extended for almost a month, until April 21. A month of fasting, known as “sawn” that some even live in space, and which marks the beginning of Eid Al-Fitr (the Feast of the End of Fasting).
While the events of the Islamic calendar, including Ramadan, are strictly related to the movements of the moon, in a similar way to the celebration of Easter, the situation this year is unique, to say the least. Why is this? Because this year there will also be a hybrid total solar eclipse in the southern hemisphere.
What is the “Shawwal Moon”?
The end of Ramadan is marked each year by the first sighting of an auspicious crescent moon called the “Shawwal Moon”, which appears in the tenth month of the Islamic calendar (Shawwal), based on the lunar phases. When it is sighted (by eye), it immediately begins Eid Al-Fitr.
This “Shawwal Moon” usually takes place only a few hours after the astronomical New Moon, at a time when the Moon “enters” the glare of the Sun, becoming completely hidden. As it begins to “emerge” after sunset, the Moon looks like a very thin crescent. After being sighted, it is considered the “Shawwal Moon”.
When will the “Shawwal Moon” and the hybrid total solar eclipse take place?
The Shawwai Moon will be visible between Thursday, April 20 and Friday, April 21, 2023, depending on the place where this phenomenon is observed. A very special New Moon, since it will be the one that will cause the first solar eclipse of 2023, known as “hybrid”, going from an annular eclipse (in which the apparent diameter of the Moon is smaller than the visible disk of the Sun, looking like a ring of fire) to a total eclipse (the appearance of the Moon is larger and covers all the light from the Sun).
It will be visible mid-morning on Thursday, April 20, and will only be visible from Exmouth in Western Australia, southeastern East Timor, and northwestern West Papua in Indonesia.
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