The sun was perpendicular to the Kaaba at 12:18pm on Saturday for the first time this year, Gulf Today reported. This made the shadow of Holy Kaaba disappear from all the four sides, surprising many pilgrims present during that time.
Engineer Majid Abu Zahra, head of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah, explained the reason behind it.
He said that at the moment of perpendicularity and when the sun at its maximum height of about 90 degrees, means that it is aligned vertically above the Holy Kaaba.
This phenomenon causes the Kaaba’s shadow to completely disappear from its four sides. Majid Abu Zahra further explained that this phenomenon takes place when the location of the Kaaba is between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer.
The sun gets aligned with Holy Kaaba twice in ayears. First when it moves from the equator to the Tropic of Cancer during the month of May and the second time when the sun returns south to the equator coming from the Tropic of Cancer in July.
The sun’s perpendicularity over the Kaaba is used to determine the direction of the Qibla. The perpendicularity of the sun above the Kaaba occurs as a result of the Earth’s rotation around the sun.
