The sun will be perpendicular on the Holy Kaaba in Saudi Arabia on Monday, May 27 at 12:18 pm (9:18 am GMT), reported Al Arabiya.
The President of the Jeddah Astronomy Society , Majed Al Zahra, indicated that the sun at the moment of perpendicularity will be at its maximum height of approximately 90 degrees. As a result, the shadow of the Kaaba and the shadows of all objects in Mecca will completely disappear.
The sun will be tilted in the sky of distant regions at this time.
He stated that this phenomenon occurs as a result of the Holy Kaaba’s location between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer. During the apparent movement of the sun across the sky, it becomes straight with the Kaaba during its move from the equator to the Tropic of Cancer during the month of May, and when the sun returns south to the equator coming from the Tropic of Cancer in July.
The president stated that the regions located at latitudes less than 23.5 degrees north and south all witness this phenomenon twice a year, but at different times depending on the latitude of that place.
Importance of Phenomenon
This phenomenon is one of the methods used by the ancients to determine the direction of the Qiblah in a very precise way, by using a piece of “wood” perpendicular to the surface of the earth. At the time of perpendicularity, the opposite direction of the shadow points completely towards the Holy Kaaba.
He explained that the phenomenon is also used to calculate the circumference of the Earth, without the need for modern technologies, by using some simple rules in geometry. It is an ancient method dating back more than two thousand years which also indicates the sphericity of the Earth.
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