Kuala Lumpur to experience equinox on March 29, September 15

Kuala Lumpur residents will experience 'a day without shadow' or a phenomenon called equinox, on March 29 and September 15.

National Space Agency (Angkasa) assistant information officer Asmidar Zainol, said the phenomenon would occur at 1.10 pm when the sun will be overhead at noon.

"During this phenomenon we will not be able to see our own shadow when standing in the sun in the open.

"However, the phenomenon is not peculiar because it takes place twice every year," she said in a statement to Bernama, here on Friday.

The equinox occurs due to the passage of the earth around the sun with the plane of the earth's tilting at an angle of 23.5 degrees.

She said areas that will experience this phenomenon are in the latitude of 23.5 degrees north and and 23.5 degrees south.

During the equinox the sun would be right overhead at 0 degrees latitude and occurs precisely at the Equator.

Besides Kuala Lumpur, people on Langkawi, Kedah, can experience the equinox on April 6, at 1.24 pm and on September 6 at 1.20 pm while people in Pontianak, Indonesia, will experience it on March 21 and September 23.

For more information on this phenomenon, the public can contact the Langkawi National Observatory, Angkasa, at 04-966 8870.