It is often said that shadow never leaves your side; but if it does, how will you react. Despite the veracity of the saying that shadow never leaves your side, sometimes it happens that there will be no shadow by your side. Such days are termed as “zero shadow days”. For those living between the latitude of 23.5 degree south (the tropic of Capricorn) and 23.5 degree north (the tropic of Cancer), this unique illusion takes place twice a year.
When sun is right overhead, the shadow of a vertical object goes right below its base for a short time – as if it has disappeared.
Nehru Planetarium Director Arvind Paranjpye termed it as ‘Zero shadow day’ and told that watching the shadow disappearing is quite exiting. “All one needs to do is to keep a vertical object in the sun and watch its shadow falling right below it- vanishing for about a minute or so. This is a very enjoyable phenomenon to watch that carries a high value of edutainment,” he said.
One can experience this optical illusion in the next seven to eight days at Pune (May 13 and May 14), Mumbai (May 15), Ahmadnagar (May 19) and cities, namely Aurangabad, Jalna and Nasik—all in Maharashtra, on May 20 at around 12:30 PM.
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