Introducing our Astronomy Page

All praise and thanks is for Allah who has adorned the nearest heaven with brilliant lamps. And may He grant blessings and peace upon the rising bright sun of the mid-morning, the full moon in darkness: Sayyidina Muhammad, and upon his Family and Companions who are shining stars.

Al-Hamdu Lillah it's been a wonderful experience spending time on peaceful clear nights looking up at the sky, viewing moons, planets, stars and more. Glory be to Allah, Lord of all the Worlds. These luminous celestial bodies also remind us of Allah's beloved Messenger Sayyidina Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) who has been likened to the full moon, and as one poet has said, the stars borrow their light from Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The beauty and vastness of outer space also make us reflect on the grand purpose of life.

In the hopes of continuing this journey, I’m happy to introduce our astronomy page:

https://poeticplanning.com/pages/astronomy

 

Some of what's been done so far:

• Suggested Intentions for Astronomy, as we hope Allah the Most High would accept this endeavor as an act of worship.
• An Ongoing Database of examples of celestial bodies mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, Hadiths, Islamic poetry etc., so that zikr (the remembrance of Allah) accompanies our astronomy. At the time of writing this blog, we have over 50 such examples in the database. For example, Allah the Most High says in the Holy Qur'an,

"Blessed is He Who made constellations in the skies, and placed therein a Lamp and a Moon giving light." (25:61)

• A Gallery depicting a visual representation of the journey as well as some astrophotography. Click on any photo to enlarge.

Some highlights in my astronomy journey in the last little while were seeing:

• the night sky at Point Pelee National Park which is also a dark sky preserve
• Jupiter with its bands through a telescope
• Saturn with its rings, and its largest moon “Titan” through a telescope
• the Andromeda galaxy through binoculars
• Orion’s belt and the Orion Nebula through binoculars
• the Orion Nebula through a telescope
• Pleiades through binoculars
• the Milky Way with the unaided eye
• Jupiter’s Galilean moons through binoculars
• the Japanese satellite Ajisai through binoculars
• the moon's phases, maria and craters up close with binoculars and a telescope
• a lunar eclipse
• the beautiful double star Albireo through binoculars and a telescope
• and many more!

 

Here is a photo that I took of the moon on December 1, 2022. It was in its Waxing Gibbous phase and 61.24% illuminated.

 

Below are some simple photos that I took:

                

From left to right: Saturn, Jupiter, the Moon during the day, Mars, Jupiter with some of its moons, the star Sirius, a Moon Jupiter Conjunction with a Lunar Halo, and the region just south of Orion's belt.

 

Click on the photo below to see a short video of the moon's surface that I took on December 1, 2022.

 

Click on the below photo to see a video taken in Margate, Florida by Hadeeyah Rozan. It's the SpaceX launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket out of Cape Canaveral on January 15, 2023. Thanks Hadeeyah! May Allah the Most High bless you.

Benefiting from others

One of the goals mentioned on our astronomy About page is to appreciate the works of others. Brother Shakeel in Mississauga, Ontario has been doing some outstanding and inspirational work. Here's one of his photos of the star cluster Pleiades with the C2015 ER61 PANSTARRS comet passing through. For more of his phenomenal astrophotography, I encourage everyone to check out and follow his FB page Unshakable Astro. May Allah the Most High reward you brother Shakeel, and may He continue to bless your work.

 

How you can help?

We think this endeavor will be beneficial to others, and insha Allah we look forward to continuing our astronomy journey with all of you. We have a long way to go and would appreciate your support. Here are some of the ways in which you can help:

• pray for the success of the project
• share this astronomy project with others
• comment on our blog posts
• provide your feedback
• follow us on our social media pages
• Poetic Planning on FB
• Poetic Planning on IG

Thank you,

Irshaad

 
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