Nagpur: Zero Shadow Day was observed on May 26, 2016 at Raman Science Centre and Planetarium, Nagpur. This is a unique event that occurs twice a year. Due to tilt of earth’s axis, sun travels 23.5° North and South of the celestial equator. While travelling to North, when sun is at the celestial angle from equator which is equal to the latitude of Nagpur, the Sun is actually at zenith, or exactly on top of our head. This event never happens in the region above tropic of Cancer and below tropic of Capricorn. Latitude of Nagpur is approximately 21.14° and is just below the tropic of Cancer.
On May 26, 2016 our shadows disappeared at local noon i.e. at 12:10 according to Indian Standard Time. Zero Shadow Day happens again in the month of July when sun is on its southward journey; but as it is rainy season in India, we may not be able to observe this due to monsoon clouds.
Many students, parents and visitors witnessed the minimum Shadow of the various objects. The shadow of these objects was elongated towards west prior before 12:10 pm exactly at 12.10 pm, the shadow of all the objects diminished and after 1 minute slowly it started emerging towards west. This is because the sun passed over Nagpur exactly through Zenith (overhead point). They also took part in various activities with great enthusiasm.
