Zero Shadow Day: For one magic minute, Bengaluru appears shadowless

Bengaluru: Science enthusiasts gathered at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium (JNP) on Friday to watch shadows disappear.

At exactly 12.18 pm, for one minute, the sun stood directly overhead, making shadows from vertical objects vanish completely.

The main attraction was a gnomon, a simple vertical stick. Under normal conditions, the stick casts a long shadow that moves with the sun. During this event, the sun was positioned so precisely overhead that light travelled straight down, leaving no shadow on the ground.

Planetarium Director BR Guruprasad said science should be fun for
everyone.

“For young visitors especially, the planetarium offered something a textbook cannot replicate and moments like this are irreplaceable. This was a direct, sensory encounter with a concept that might otherwise remain abstract. A child who watches a shadow disappear will ask why, and that curiosity is what is important,” he said.

“Because Bengaluru is close to the equator, we see this twice a year. Different cities see it at different times based on where they are located on the map,” he added.