Zero Shadow Day: Bengaluru Witnesses Rare Celestial Phenomenon This Afternoon, Know What it Means

Karnataka’s Bengaluru city briefly witnessed a rare celestial phenomenon called ‘Zero Shadow Day’, wherein the sun was directly over the head at around 12:17 pm on Tuesday. As part of this rare phenomenon, there was no shadow of all vertically placed objects.

The Association OF Bangalore Amateur Astronomers (ABAA) earlier said, if there is a vertical reference such as a pole, at 12:17 pm, the Sun will be overhead and as a result, there will be no shadow of the reference pole.

This phenomenon occurs twice a year, and it results in a sort of a “glitch” since all vertical objects stop casting shadows till the celestial phenomenon lasts, The Weather Channel said in its report. Since shadows are not cast by vertical objects during Zero Shadow Day, the moment looks bizarre to the eyes.

This rare phenomenon mostly occurs in regions near the equator, regions that fall between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The Sun transits slightly to the north or the south, on days when this phenomenon is not in place, the TWC report further stated.

According to the Astronomical Society of India, the next time this event will occur in Bengaluru on August 18.

Notably, a series of events including a public talk will be organized by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics on Tuesday, to commemorate the rare occurrence.

Observing the changing shadow length of the vertical objects, and subsequently using these measurements to measure the Earth’s diameter, will be among some of the activities to take place.

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