All observations were done from Muscat, Oman, during a one week visit.
The easy crescent put up quite a fight, using clouds and enormous amounts of haze to hide in. I had to stalk it for more than one hour, standing on the open window of my hotel room till the crescent became visible in a gap in the clouds. By then, the crescent had reached a height of 20° und the sun was due to rise soon thereafter. In the end, it was also seen with the naked eye.
Clouds and haze during twilight covered the crescent, but venus and jupiter where visible.
The old crescent finally becomming visible between the clouds, shortly before sunset, at -27h, 24° elongation.
Contrast enhanced view of the same image.
Sunrise hidden in the dust.
We started well before sunset, using a mobile telescope optimized for crescent observations. Sky conditions were very hazy, but free of visible clouds. We could quickly see the crescent with the CCD camera and the telescopes tracked it well. This crescent was not a difficult task for the crescent imaging system. Switching to the visual view, we could later also see the crescent visually through the telescope after sunset. 5 observers where present and i think we all saw the crescent visually, but it was not easy and finding precise focus for each observer was important. We could NOT see the crescent with the naked eye.
I took some images with a standard DSLR through the telescope, to get images similar to the visual view. I show a raw image from the DSLR, a contrast-stretched image from the DSLR and an image from my dedicated crescent imaging system, all taken with the same telescope.
The crescent telescope, showing the contrast-enhanced live-view of the crescent. We hardly had to touch the software for this easy occasion.
Live image of the crescent, from the automatic crescent observation software. The view stayed the same all the way to local horizon, despite tons of haze. The automatic software compensated for most of the changes in brightness.
Raw image of the crescent, taken with a DSLR with the same telescope.
Contrast enhanced image of the DSLR crescent.
Later, the constellation scorpius was seen in colorful skies.
We went to the future OAS area near muscat and setup the instruments before sunset. The easy crescent could be seen with naked eye before sunset. We spent two hours there and enjoyed the coming of darkness.
The crescent in the sky before sunset, as seen over the telescope.
The mobile crescent telescope and the setting sun. We did not even use the powerful camera and software on this occasion.
Early image of the crescent, taken with a DSLR through the telescope, while the sky was still blue.
Later image of the crescent through the telescope, with the earthshine showing.
View of the evening view towards the west, with crescent and lights.
Evening activities on the first day of Ramadan.
Ein Mann bei der Betrachtung des Mondes.