On May 19, 2007 (
Saturday 2 Jumaada al-awal 1428 A.H.) the crescent Moon and the planet
Venus were in conjunction in the constellation Gemini in the western
sky. On December 1, 2008 (Monday 3 Thw al-Hijjah 1429 A.H. ) the
crescent moon and Venus will again be in conjunction, this
time joined by the planet Jupiter. All three will be low in the
southwest near the constellations of Capricorn and Sagittarius and
below the three bright stars of Deneb, Vega and Altair that are known
as the Summer Triangle. The next lunar conjunction will be
December 8, 2015 (Tuesday 26 Safar 1437 A.H.). The Moon and Venus will
be in Virgo in the eastern sky with both Mars and Jupiter visible on a
rough line that includes the bright stars Spica and Regulus. We
are unskilled in astrology, but as mathematicians and statisticians we
have profound admiration for ancient watchers of the sky who, without
telescopes, computers or even algebra, grasped that the courses of
heavenly bodies could be predicted. Accordingly, we have suggested
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran announce that in order to begin
construction of a joint-ventured magnetically levitated super from the
Caspian Sea to Cairo with branches to Mecca and Casablanca in less
than fifteen months, Persia, long home to some of the better
astronomers and engineers on the planet, would host an international
conference. While not a conjunction, the crescent Moon, Venus, the
star Regulus and Saturn will be close together in the eastern sky in
the mornings during the first weeks of October. Our thanks to
Tawfig Alrabiah and Waleed Muhanna for help with date conversions.