UK Ramadan fasting times for 2020

ASTRONOMICAL DATA FOR RAMADAN 2020

– by Imam Dr Usama Hasan, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society

Ramadan & Eid Dates 2020-2025 (approx.)

Based on Crescent Moon Visibility data for London from HMNAO’s Websurf 2.0 website

(Moon Visibility is estimated on a scale of A-F. The following dates are based on the approximation that A-C represent a visible crescent moon; D-F represent an invisible moon.)

YEAR	Beginning of Ramadan (+/- 1 day)	Eid al-Fitr (+/- 2 days)
2020	25 April	25 May
2021	14 April	14 May
2022	03 April	02 May
2023	23 March	22 April
2024	12 March	10 April
2025	02 March	31 March

Examples of dawn/sunset timings for the UK (four UK capital cities), 2020

Dates used are: 25^th April (~1^st Ramadan), 9^th May (~15^th Ramadan) & 23^rd May (~29^th Ramadan)

Date

City

Dawn
(18°)

Dawn (15°)

Dawn (12°)

Sunrise
(SR)

Sunset
(SS)

Fasting length (18°)

Fasting length (15°)

Fasting length (12°)

Fasting length SR-SS

25 April

London

03:23

03:53

04:19

05:43

20:15

16:52

16:22

15:56

14:32

9 May

02:32

03:12

03:44

05:18

20:37

18:05

17:25

16:53

15:19

23 May

***

02:31

03:13

04:58

20:58

***

18:27

17:45

16:00

25 April

Edin-burgh

02:45

03:28

04:03

05:42

20:41

17:56

17:13

16:38

14:59

9 May

***

02:23

03:15

05:11

21:09

***

18:46

17:54

15:58

23 May

***

02:19

04:46

21:34

***

19:15

16:48

25 April

Cardiff

03:35

04:05

04:31

05:56

20:27

16:52

16:22

15:56

14:31

9 May

02:44

03:24

03:57

05:30

20:50

18:06

17:26

16:53

15:20

23 May

***

02:43

03:25

05:10

21:10

***

18:27

17:45

16:00

25 April

Belfast

03:15

03:52

04:23

05:57

20:47

17:32

16:55

16:24

14:50

9 May

***

02:58

03:40

05:28

21:13

***

18:15

17:33

15:45

23 May

***

02:57

05:05

21:37

***

18:40

16:32

KEY:

18° refers to astronomical twilight, which begins or ends when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon

15° refers to when the sun is 15 degrees below the horizon

12° refers to nautical twilight, which begins or ends when the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon

The astronomical definition of “dawn” is disputed, with various Muslim religious authorities adopting one of the three possible definitions given above.

*** in the above table means that the timing is not available, because the sun does not reach that far below the horizon. This happens every year during the summer at high latitudes, such as the UK.

NOTES:

We must emphasise that the actual dates of the beginning of Ramadan and Eid, given above, are subject to vary by one or two days, within Muslim communities in the UK, due to different community approaches to determining these dates.
If we use 18° astronomical twilight (Sun’s depression = 18 degrees) as the start of dawn, the fasting start time and fasting length are undefined for most of Ramadan 2020 in Edinburgh & Belfast. They are defined for most of the month, except towards its end, in Cardiff & London, where the fasting length is around 17-18 hours.
If we use 15° (Sun’s depression = 15 degrees) as the start of dawn, the fasting start time and fasting length are undefined for most of Ramadan 2020 in Edinburgh & Belfast, except towards its end, where the fasting length is 17-19 hours. However, dawn does occur throughout the month in both London and Cardiff, giving fasting lengths of 16.5-18.5 hours.
If we use 12° nautical twilight (Sun’s depression = 12 degrees) as the start of dawn, this results in fasting hours during Ramadan 2020 in London and Cardiff of 16-18 hours, in Belfast of 16.5-18.5 hours, and in Edinburgh of 16.5-19 hours.
If we use Sunrise as the start of fasting, this results in fasting hours during Ramadan 2020 in London and Cardiff of 14.5-16 hours, in Belfast of 15-16.5 hours, and in Edinburgh of 15-17 hours.

The HMNAO data portal is: http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/ – please note that there is no www. prefixing this resource address.

This entry was posted on April 26, 2020 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Astronomy, Ramadan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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