For a week, people in Costa Rica cast no shadow

Your afternoon walks this week in Costa Rica might be a bit lonelier than usual thanks to the absence of your familiar shadow. Every day around noon until April 18, shadows will be nearly imperceptible in Costa Rica thanks to the shifting tilt of the earth’s axis.

As the earth begins to tilt the northern hemisphere towards the sun, bringing about the summer season in that part of the world, countries in the tropics are at a 90 degree angle from the sun. This puts the sun directly overhead in places near the equator, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Near midday, when the sun is at its highest, anything placed on the ground in this part of the world will not cast a shadow. In Costa Rica, this phenomenon can be seen at approximately 11:32 a.m. from April 10 to 18.

The National Center of Science and Technology has launched a campaign inviting people in Costa Rica to track the exact time the sun reaches its zenith and share the results on its website.