There is no shortage of celestial events to gawp at this year, with the April 8 eclipse and the “Devil’s Comet” being the highlights.
These are events that come around only a few times a lifetime, but there are plenty of yearly events to keep the calendar full. One such event is known as “lāhainā noon” – roughly translated as “cruel sun” – or sometimes “zero shadow days”.
Twice a year, in just a few places on Earth (all within the tropics) the Sun passes directly overhead. The result is that objects standing up vertically cast no shadow you can see, making the objects appear really weirdly rendered, like in a videogame where the shadows haven’t loaded.
Hawai’i, being the only US state in the tropics, is the only US state to experience zero shadow days. These were named Lāhainā noon in a competition run by Bishop Museum.
During zero shadow days, when the Sun is at its peak in the sky and shadows of vertical objects are concealed, you will be standing on the closest place on Earth to the Sun, known as the subsolar point. This point makes its way across the tropics throughout the year, appearing above Hawai’i during May and July.
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Source Link: Lāhainā Noon: The Celestial Event Which Makes Objects Look Oddly Rendered
