Zero Shadow Day 2024: What is it? Why does it occur?

Every year, for every point on Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, there are two Zero Shadow Days.

The Zero Shadow Day occurred today between 12:17 PM and 12:23 PM.

Would you freak out if you see you’re not casting a shadow?

A ‘Zero Shadow Day’ is when vertical objects appear to cast no shadow. This is because the Sun is at its zenith and the shadow is directly under the object.

For every point on Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, there are two Zero Shadow Days every year. The Zero Shadow Day is restricted to locations between the tropics; places north of Ranchi in India are out of it.

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Uttarayan (movement of the Sun from south to north from winter solstice to summer solstice) and Dakshinayan (back from north to south) happen because Earth’s rotation axis is tilted at an angle of roughly 23.5° to the axis of revolution around the Sun.

All places whose latitude equals the angle between the Sun’s location and the equator on that day experience zero shadow days, with the shadow beneath an object at local noon.

Bengaluru must have witnessed the Zero Shadow Day today between 12:17 PM and 12:23 PM. Places situated at the same latitudes as Bengaluru must have also experienced it. Residents of Kanyakumari, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Mumbai are also likely to witness the phenomenon today.

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A similar event took place in Tamil Nadu’s Kodaikanal on April 16.

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The Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru hosted events today at its Koramangala campus to mark Zero Shadow Day. They also welcomed the public to join the activities starting from 10 AM to 1 PM.

Take a look at how people observe the day through social media videos and posts:

Zero Shadow Day ft. Bangalore. Surreal stuff, as always, this day. #ZeroShadow #Bangalore #Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/C2Zo3Zb7M9

— Ujyant Ramesh (@ujyant29) April 24, 2024

Join us on 24 April to celebrate #ZeroShadowDay #ZSD for locations at #Bengaluru latitude Measure shadow lengths & check out our cool demos! We will work with Bhopal & Chennai to calculate Earth’s diameter and rotation speed!@asipoec @CosmosMysuru @doot_iia @IndiaDST pic.twitter.com/K5TtwGI8bl

— IIAstrophysics (@IIABengaluru) April 23, 2024

“Join us on 24 April to celebrate Zero Shadow Day for locations at Bengaluru latitude. Measure shadow lengths and check out our cool demos! We will work with Bhopal & Chennai to calculate Earth’s diameter and rotation speed,” Indian Institute of Astrophysics said in a social media post.

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A post shared by PremKumar CG (@premkumarcg)

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A post shared by Suneel Shivananda (@suneel_shivananda)

#Bangalore today witnessed #ZeroShadowDay where Sun is perfectly overhead casting no shadows to perfectly vertical objects. pic.twitter.com/STNRFMsU2M

— Deepak Soni (@dpksoni) April 24, 2024

Bengaluru had recorded a Zero Shadow Day last year as well. It was on April 25 at 12:17 PM that shadows of vertical objects disappeared for a moment.

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