When celestial bodies aligned ‘over Malaya’ on Aug 31, 1957
ALOR STAR: Did you know that on the historic date of Aug 31, 1957, an extraordinary phenomenon coincidentally occurred in space?
At that time, the alignment of several celestial bodies, including the planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, the Virgo constellation, as well as the moon and the sun, were nearly in a straight line in the western sky over Malaya.
Astronomy enthusiast Mohamad Redzuan Tahar, 41, said the phenomenon that occurred on the date of the country’s independence was an amazing coincidence and could become a catalyst to increase public interest in astronomy.
“The first mufti of Penang, the late Sheikh Abdullah Fahim, who was also the grandfather of the fifth prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was an astronomer who proposed the date of Aug 31, 1957, as the date for Malaya’s independence,” he said recently.
Redzuan said after reading an article about the late Sheikh Abdullah, he used the Stellarium and Sky Safari applications to revisit the date. He said he was also very impressed with the late Sheikh Abdullah’s expertise in interpreting the position of celestial bodies.
“The knowledge possessed by the late Sheikh Abdullah was extraordinary, considering that the astronomy equipment at that time was not as advanced.
“I hope this will spark people’s interest in other activities related to science and technology as well as astronomy,” said Redzuan, who holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in the United States, and a Masters of Science in Physics from Universiti Malaya.