Extraordinary phenomenon in space on sacred date of Aug 31, 1957

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, was 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 the field of astronomy, besides learning more about the history behind the date of Malaysia's independence.

"Behind the auspicious date of Aug 31 in 1957, there was by chance an extraordinary phenomenon that occurred in outer space at that time when the positions of several celestial bodies were aligned.

"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 when contacted recently.

Mohamad Redzuan said after reading an article about the late Sheikh Abdullah Fahim, he used the Stellarium and Sky Safari applications to revisit the date.

"It was very exciting to find that celestial bodies such as the planets Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Saturn, the moon, the sun and the constellation Virgo were almost aligned or aligned in the western sky of Malaya at that time," he said.

He said he was also very impressed with the late Sheikh Abdullah's expertise in interpreting the position of celestial bodies back then.

"The knowledge possessed by the late Sheikh Abdullah was extraordinary considering that the astronomical equipment at that time was not as advanced as it is today.

"I hope this matter 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), USA, and a Master of Science in Physics from Universiti Malaya.

-- BERNAMA