Download Zero Shadow Day android app and enjoy the phenomenon amid the lockdown

Download Zero Shadow Day android app and enjoy the phenomenon amid the lockdown

I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow.” - Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar.
 
But lack of shadow too is sometimes beautiful. And if you want to experience that, then be under sun on your terrace at 12.31 noon on Wednesday. Every year the scientific phenomenon of Zero Shadow day takes place creating curiosity among many amateurs across the country.

But do you know how and when it all started grabbing the eyeballs? Way back in 2009 when the current director of Nehru Planetarium, Mumbai Arvind Paranjpye was the director at Inter-University of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCCA), Pune he started calling the school children on this particular day.

While talking to Sakal Times, he said, “It was part of the science popularisation initiative we used to conduct. It was Sakal newspaper which gave the news of this initiative. We started conducting this activity every year since then, and gradually it gained popularity.

“Probably, India is the first and only country where this phenomenon is hugely popular and people every year stop for a minute to observe it”.

How does it take place?
"It happens twice a year, for places between +23.5 and -23.5 degrees latitude. The sun is almost never exactly overhead at noon but usually transits a bit lower in altitude, a bit to the north or a bit to the south. We have all studied in school that the Earth’s rotation axis is inclined at 23.5 degrees to the plane of its revolution around the sun, which is why we have seasons. This also means that the sun, in its highest point of the day, will move from 23.5 degrees south of the celestial equator to 23.5 degrees north of the equator (Uttarayan), and back again (Dakshinayan), in a year”, Paranjpye explained.

For people living between +23.5 and -23.5 degrees latitude, the sun’s declination will be equal to their latitude twice - once during Uttarayan and once during Dakshinayan. On these two days, the sun will be exactly overhead at noon and will not cast a shadow of an object on the ground. This Zero Shadow Day will clearly be different for different places on earth”, he informed.

When will it be visible in Pune?
It will be visible in Pune on May 13 at 12.31 pm (noon) and again on July 28 at 12.41 pm.

Know your location
You can now download an android app, Zero Shadow Day for your phone.

The app will tell you the ZSD and local noon for your location or any other place, lets you interactively explore the length of shadows and the position of the sun for any date, time and place, and also have animations that will help you understand and teach others about the ZSD. The app is coming soon in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi and Hindi!

This app was made for Astronomical Society of India, Public Outreach and Education Committee by Alok Mandavgane.

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