Context:
At 12:17 pm, Bengaluru experienced a ‘Zero Shadow Day’, when vertical objects appear to cast no shadow. This was because the sun was at its zenith, and so the shadow was directly under the object.
Relevance:
GS I: Geography
Dimensions of the Article:
- About Zero Shadow Day:
- Why does it happen?
About Zero Shadow Day:
- A phenomenon where the shadow of any vertical object disappears at local noon.
- Occurs twice a year for every point on Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
- Next Zero Shadow Day in Bengaluru is on August 18.
Why does it happen?
- Happens because of the tilt of Earth’s rotation axis at an angle of roughly 23.5° to the axis of revolution around the Sun.
- The Sun’s location moves from 23.5°N to 23.5°S of Earth’s equator and back, causing Uttarayan and Dakshinayan.
- All places whose latitude equals the angle between the Sun’s location and the equator on that day experience Zero Shadow Day.
Other information:
- Zero Shadow Day occurs on different days in places away from 130 latitude.
- Zero Shadow Day is restricted to locations between the tropics.
- The northernmost and southernmost points are the two solstices, and the crossing of the Sun across the equator are the two equinoxes.
-Source: Indian Express
