It’s officially the time when New Yorkers get excited about the sun setting. Manhattanhenge is upon us, the golden time when the setting sun aligns with the street grid and illuminates the urban canyons in a rosy glow.
What is the Manhattanhenge?
Manhattanhenge is a unique urban phenomenon that occurs when the sun perfectly aligns with the Manhattan street grid. Hence creating an illusion of the sun setting equally on both sides of the streets.
As per the Americal Museum of Natural History, the city is uniquely laid with a grid system giving a clear view of the horizon. While the planners did not mean for the plan to channel the sun’s rays, it just occurred.
The term was coined by Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in a 1997 article for the magazine Natural History.
It struck Tyson that the setting sun framed by Manhattan’s highrises could be compared to the sun’s rays striking the center of the Stonehenge circle on the solstice.
Manhattanhenge does not occur on the summer solstice itself, which was June 21 this year. Instead, it happens about three weeks before the solstice and again about three weeks after. That’s when the sun aligns itself perfectly with the Manhattan grid’s east-west streets.
In 2022, it occurred on May 30 and then again on July 11. However, on the days before and after, i. (teamtapper.com) e., May 29 and July 12, the top half of the sun’s disk sits above the horizon and the top half is below at the precise moment of alignment.
Where can you see this?
The iconic viewing spots for Manhattenhenge are located along the broad east-west thoroughfares on 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street, and 57th Street. The farther east you go, the more dramatic the vista as the sun’s rays hit building facades on either side. It is also possible to see Manhattanhenge across the East River in the Long Island City section of Queens. People gather on the east-west streets about half an hour before the sunset for clicking photographs and documenting the view.