Chennaiites brave the heat to see Zero Shadow Day

At 12.07 pm, the sun was at its zenith – the highest point in the sky. This position of the sun makes shadows appear directly below the objects. This phenomenon happens only between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. 

“The sun’s rays fall on a particular point, exactly perpendicular to the surface. This causes the ‘zero shadow’ effect. I had to jump to see my shadow that was directly under my feet. Apparently, this is set to occur again on August 18. It is quite fascinating to observe it. I also downloaded the Zero Shadow Day mobile app by the Astronomical Society of India to keep future tabs,” says M Abinayashree, a college student who checked out the effect in the afternoon along with her friends.

Several employees of advertising firm ‘Be positive 24’ also came across the news online and stepped out. The firm wanted to popularise the concept and posted on their social media page – “Today, we stepped out at 12.07 pm to see whether our shadow is exactly under us. The Earth’s axis is tilted at 23.5 degrees. As a result, at no point in the day is the sun exactly overhead—except on April 24 at noon at Chennai’s latitude. All other days, all objects do cast a shadow even at noon.”

Yogita Shah, director of the firm, says that it was a fun experience. “Some of them were even holding up their dupatas to see how the shadow formed. It was interesting and we learned something as well.”