Visibility of Luna and Lunar Crescent

The Mon ar divi.s this qitcda 6 d.sc'ib.d by th*. aurhos is thar (D ihc m of lisht
d6dibes how bnghr is th. cFac.nl &d (ii) ihe moon*i*utuel lag de*db. hov lons the
ctcse @uld coaii abovc horian.n r th€ $n sl. MoE is rhe vql@ ofqch ofdrqc
paluelea moE is the po$ibilily ofsishdng offie ce*cni. Howver, drcr. h6 to b.5
conbined ni.imun ofthe two dd the sigh{ne Eords wcre the only heans to verify lhc
crilerion or diving al the (it€rion. Using $is condition Fatoohi a al hsv€ Fponed thc
aslhs of lhcir @mpu|,alioB for 39 rw cEsnt 3ighings rhal in lud. bolh lhc
Bab)lonirn cEscenr qighr ing Rordc tud thes'ghtine Ecords Eponed in $e 2Odcenrury
liredtule. Th. aulhos have rcponcd ihat oul l99 cdcs the Babyloni.n c lerion was
succestul in 98.7% of fic posilive siehliog {cE$e.r claioed to h.v. b.en sn) c45
but fsiled i. 45.7'lo c66 of the nesalive siShine GF$.rt no( *o) ces
In r€ccnt lin€s a number of orsdialios haYe smnged for coll.cdon of €r.*ent
sighting or non{ighline @ords. Th*e inclu& Isldic Ctffint Oberyalion Prcjdl lh
So h African aslononical Obsaatory and rheii websiFs Sinild rccords are reponcd
ro aid colhd€d at lhe wbsile @!sS.h!i!s.eol1 Morevet, lhc ldrgest data el
yd availabl. in lhe pubhh.d paFG is lhal by Od€h (OdGh 2004) we hav' *lecred 463
of lhes dords ofdening cEsnts el.dcd for tE compdison ofrhe nodels studied in
Usins (l.l.l) appli€d lo the dar. 9l clet€d for this wlk the '6!lts
u€
pEs ed in the lable no. Ll.l. ln this lable ollv lhose rccords are prcscnled when thc
crescent wa reponed to hare ben seen wilh or snhoul ev optical aid ad ARCV +
LAG is les lha 22 degr€6 Th. rabL is en€d on ARCV + LAc It shows lhal thcrc ft
? claims of opli€llt unaid.d sighinss of new ce$enl tol salisfving $e Babvlonian
cileion gi!.n by (l,l,l). The compl€G dola sel is P!€sent€d in the Appe'di\-ll Thc
table i. App.nditll is en d on visibilily colum N in d€$ending older, so thal all
oflically @id.d visibility ces of crc$cnt sighing in ordtr of ARCV + LAG (in
dcSt*t app.d al lhe top of the llbl€ The table in Apt€ndia'll sho* S No ihc
obseffation No. (odeh, 2OO4), dare ofobsryatio!, latitude ed lonsitude of rhe location
of ob6dtr, visibihy N' for uaided visibilitv' 'B' for visibilitv thrcugl binmld, T
8l