Astronomically, Thursday 19 February first day of Ramadan: NRIAG

Ahram Online , Friday 6 Feb 2026

Astronomically, Thursday, 19 February 2026, will mark the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, while Wednesday, 18 February, will complete the month of Shaaban, according to calculations announced by Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG).

Ramadan Market at El-Sayeda Zeinab in Cairo. Photo : Zeinab El-Gundy

In a statement issued on Thursday, the institute said the crescent of Ramadan will be born immediately after the conjunction occurs at 2:02pm Cairo local time on Tuesday, 17 February 2026, corresponding to 29 Shaaban 1447 AH, the official moon-sighting day.

The institute noted that the new crescent will not have been born by sunset on the sighting day in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta, Indonesia.

According to the statement, the moon will set after sunset on the sighting day by three minutes in Mecca and by four minutes in Cairo.

Across Egypt’s governorates, the moon will set between three and four minutes after sunset.

In Arab and Islamic capitals and cities, the moon will set between one and 12 minutes after sunset, except in Manama in Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Muscat in Oman, and Tehran in Iran, where the moon will set at the same time as sunset.

Meanwhile in Karachi, Pakistan, the moon will set one minute before sunset, and four minutes before sunset in both Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.

Based on these astronomical calculations, the institute confirmed that Wednesday, 18 February 2026, will complete the month of Shaaban 1447 AH, and that the first day of Ramadan 1447 AH will fall astronomically on Thursday, 19 February 2026.