Hundreds turn up for 'Zero Shadow Day' at planetarium

Manya Manjunath, an 11-year-old from KLE Society School, Nagarbhavi, was one among several curious students present at city's Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium to witness the 'Zero Shadow Day' on Tuesday.

"I stood right under the sun for over five minutes. I could notice the shadow decreasing gradually. It happens as the sun moves above our heads to its zenith," said an excited Manya.

Students did not need any special gadgets to observe the phenomenon.

As a part of the activity, they were made to stand in a horizontal line, below the noon sun to observe the shrinking shadow.

At the strike of 12.17 pm, they recorded the 'Zero Shadow' moment.

When the sun reaches its zenith—right overhead—there is no shadow formed and it is thus referred to as the 'Zero Shadow' moment.

Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru organized the half-day workshop in association with Jawahar Planetarium, Allahabad and Aryabhat Foundation, Bhopal.

Visiting Scientist, ‎Bangalore Association for Science Education, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Dr B S Shylaja delivered a special lecture on 'Zaero Shadow Day'. Honorary Professor, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Prof P Venkatakrishnan, spoke on 'Sunny Facts.'

"I attended the workshop as well as the lectures. I also took down notes during it. The session was very informative and easy to understand. We observed the decreasing shadow over time," said Shriya N R, a class nine student of Sri Jnanakshi Vidyaniketan.

Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Pramod G Galgali said that there were different activities held for the observation of the Zero Shadow Day.

A cracker was placed below a convex lens and once the rays focused on it, the cracker burst to mark the zero shadow time.

What is special about Zero Shadow Day

The shadow at noon can be at the zero mark only on two specific days in a year, for places between the Equator and the Tropic of Cancer. The dates vary from place to place when the sun is exactly at zenith. It happened at 12.17 pm on April 24, 2018. The second such day will be August 19, 2018.