NYU Abu Dhabi students used the tallest building in the world — Dubai's Burj Khalifa — as a tool to study the rotation of the Earth.

Using a simple approach of aligning the shadow vertically throughout the video, the Earth appears to rotate beneath the shadow, revealing a fundamental pattern of the Earth’s motion in space.

The students designed and produced their own hardware and recording software, and installed a custom-made rig 700 meters up on the Burj.

Burj Shadow Project Team

Vasily Rudchenko, Class of 2017
Koh Terai, Class of 2017
Matt Karau, NYUAD faculty advisor
Goffredo Puccetti, NYUAD faculty advisor
Roberto Casati, PSL Research University