Helen Keller once famously quoted:

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

Punekars will experience this for real when they will witness a Zero Shadow moment, tomorrow on the 13th of May, 2017 between 12 pm and 1 pm. Explaining the phenomenon, Arvind Paranjpye, Scientific Officer at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCCA) said,

It occurs due to the northward and southward motion of the sun and when it is positioned at 23 1/2 degree altitude, the sun's rays appear exactly overhead around noon. The event occurs annually and will be an opportune time to witness the event, since it is summer,.

source: youtube

Paranjpye also added,

A similar situation will arise on July 30 when sun travels backward from south to north, retracing its rays. However, it will be monsoon here at that time and hence, we may not be able to witness it. 

source: iucaa

He further said, "A similar phenomenon would have occurred in Kolhapur or southern Maharashtra yesterday or the day before, while it will happen in Mumbai or northern Maharashtra roughly on Friday."

To witness this astounding phenomenon of science you can follow one of these observation methods, suggested by Navnirmiti, a Science and Mathematics organisation:

source: iucaa

1. Keep a pencil balanced upright on its base on a stool outside in the sun. 

2. Keep a transparent bottle half-filled with water and without its cap, out in the sun. When the sun is overhead, an image will be seen exactly at the centre of the bottom of the bottle through the transparent glass or polymer.

3. Hang a small bead or stone by a thin string tied to a thin horizontal rod. At 12.30 pm the shadow of the bead will fall on the shadow of the rod.

4. A hollow tube formed by rolling a newspaper and balancing it upright on a flat surface can also be used to observe the effect.

Information source: indianexpress

Title image: skymeteather, etc.usf

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