Bhubaneswar: People of Odisha on Monday will experience the Zero Shadow Day during which they would not be able to see their own shadow.
Talking to media persons here, Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar, Subhendu Patnaik said the Zero Shadow Days fall during the movement of the Sun towards the Tropic of Cancer in the north (Uttarayana) and towards the Tropic of Capricorn in the south (Dakshinayana).
“The phenomenon takes place because the rotation axis of the Earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5° to the axis of revolution around the Sun. When the location of the Sun moves from 23.5° N to 23.5° S of Earth’s equator, all places whose latitude equals the angle between the location of the Sun and the equator will experience Zero Shadow Days,” he added.
While the residents of Bhubaneswar will witness the phenomenon at 11.43 am on May 21 and 11.53 am on July 22, it can be seen at Cuttack around the same time on May 22 and July 22.
Besides, the phenomenon would be witnessed at 11.52 am on May 28 and 11.56 am on July 15 in Burla, 11.54 am on May 23 and 12.04 pm on July 20 in Balangir, 11.41 am on May 31 and 11.49 am on July 12 in Baripada and 11.58 am on June 2 and 11.56 am on July 10 in Rourkela.
Patnaik further said the people of Odisha among seven other states— Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura—would witness the celestial event between Kanyakumari and Central India.
Stating that the event can be witnessed at the planetariums in Bhubaneswar and Burla, he said the people can also observe the phenomenon before noon by placing any symmetrical object like bucket, pole, cardboard box and bottle vertically on a plane surface under the direct sun.
“They will see that the length of the shadow will gradually decrease and will disappear for some time,” Patnaik pointed out.
