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‘Zero shadow day’ in Pune today

An astronomical event, it comes twice a year and for a few moments one’s shadow falls directly below his/her feet and would appear to vanish.

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For Punekars it will be once again a ‘zero shadow day’ on Saturday, exactly at 12:30:28 pm.

An astronomical event, it comes twice a year and for a few moments one’s shadow falls directly below his/her feet and would appear to vanish. 

“It will be a chance to experience only for those who live between the tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn. On this day the bottom of a well will have sun rays reaching everywhere, though just for a while,” said Arvind Paranjpye of the public outreach programme at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (Iucaa). 

“It occurs due to the northward and southward motion of the Sun as seen on the horizon. Zero shadow will also occur in Mumbai (May 16), Nashik (May 21) and in Nagpur (May 27). In reverse order the zero shadow days will occur again in Pune on July 31, Nagpur (July 18), Nashik (July 24), and Mumbai (July 29),” Paranjpye added. 

The Greek mathematician, geographer and astronomer, Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) was the first to make use of this observation (Zero Shadow Day), to estimate the diameter of Earth. 

“The places which fall north of the tropic of Cancer and south of the tropic of Capricorn will not experience zero shadow day.
The phenomenon occurs at different times on different places on Earth between the two tropics, as they are located at different
latitudes,” he said.

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