Islamic new moon software: Current status

Abstract

We report on the current status of Islamic new moon software. In astronomy, there are two closely related terms i.e. new moon and Islamic new moon. This creates another need for specific software. In this paper, we present ten Islamic new moon software. Some of the software have a potential to be develop further and some of it need to be review. It is important because, hilal sighting in certain country depends on this kind of software. Meaning, certain accuracy must be attain. It was found that South East Asia region developed majority of the software. Perhaps this is due to: 1) majority of population is Islam in those countries (Malaysia and Indonesia); therefore 2) creates the necessity to fulfil the needs of religion. Although this is not statistical analysis, it is hope that it can give a clear status of development of Islamic new moon software. Perhaps from there, we can set a direction by asking “quo vadis Islamic new moon software?”.