On the morning of Monday, 5 October, the moon stood almost directly above the Kaaba in the sky over Makkah. Citing the Jeddah Astronomical Society, Our Islam reports that the moon reached its highest point over Makkah at 7:50:31am local time, at an altitude of about 89.87 degrees.
That put the centre of the moon just 7 minutes 43 seconds of arc from the point directly overhead. The moon was a waning crescent, about 31.8 per cent lit, some 372,253 kilometres from the centre of the Earth, with an apparent size of about 0.54 degrees, close to that of the sun in the sky.
It was visible to the naked eye, though less clearly than at night because of daylight. It was the second time in 2026 that the moon has stood over the Kaaba in this way; the first was on 28 February.
Astronomers explain that when the moon's declination comes close to Makkah's latitude and it crosses the local meridian, it can pass almost straight overhead. This time its declination was about 21 degrees 33 minutes north, against Makkah's latitude of about 21.4 degrees north.
Such events can help indicate the direction of the qibla: people who can see the moon at that moment can use it as a visible pointer towards Makkah. More precise methods and technology for finding the qibla are available today.
Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Source: Our Islam
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