KARACHI - The Shawwal crescent is most likely to be sighted on Sept 20 (Sunday) and Eid-ul-Fitr will be celebrated the next day (Monday). The experts predicted the crescent of Shawwal-ul-Mukarram would be sighted on 20th of this month and hence Shawwal 1, 1430 AD, will fall on Sept 21. The Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics headed by Dr M Shahid Qureshi said that in fact the moon would appear on Sept 19 (Saturday) within 11 minutes of the sunset at 2.1 degrees above the horizon. Thus in Karachi it is impossible to see the crescent on Saturday, he said, observing that similarly in all the Islamic countries as well as in Australia, Far East, Asia, Europe and Central and North Africa the crescent would not be visible on Saturday. Dr Qureshi maintained the crescent would easily be visible on Sept 20 (Sunday)in all the Islamic countries. He said, however, the crescent would be visible on Sept 19 only in the southern part of Africa and in the Southern America. On Sept 19, the crescent will appear from horizon for 16.5 minutes after sunset in Makkah at 3.3 degrees. In these conditions, it is impossible to sight the crescent in Makkah on Sept 19 (Saturday), he maintained. He said that instead of sighting the moon, if conditions of Ummul Qura Calendar are followed in SArabia, then the 1st of Shawwal will fall there on Sept 20 (Sunday).. Thus according to actual visibility, the first of Shawwal should be on the same day throughout Islamic world this year. It would be a different situation if Saudi Arabia follows Ummul Qura Calendar. It is to be noted that Pakistans meteorological department has earlier predicted that the Shawwal crescent will be sighted on Sept 20. The department claimed that the moon will be visible in several parts of the country, maintaining the crescent of the first date is usually 31 hours old, but this year Shawwals moon would be 42 hours old on Sept 20.