Belagavi will experience ‘Zero Shadow Day‘ on 9 August 2023, with vertical objects casting no shadows at noon. The rare occurrence takes place when the sun’s position is directly overhead, causing no shadows to be cast on the Earth’s surface.
The lack of shadow is beautiful too. And 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.
Zero Shadow Day Belagavi
This also means that the Sun, at 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. Of course, the northernmost and southernmost points are the two solstices and the crossing of the Sun across the equator is the two equinoxes.
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.