Manhattanhenge

"What will future civilizations think of Manhattan Island when they dig it up and find a carefully laid out network of streets and avenues? Surely the grid would be presumed to have astronomical significance, just as we have found for the pre-historic circle of large vertical rocks known as Stonehenge, in the Salisbury Plain of England. For Stonehenge, the special day is the summer solstice, when the Sun rises in perfect alignment with several of the stones, signaling the change of season.

innyworld on Instagram

For Manhattan, a place where evening matters more than morning, that special day comes twice a year, when the setting Sun aligns precisely with the Manhattan street grid, creating a radiant glow of light across Manhattan's brick and steel canyons, simultaneously illuminating both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough's grid. A rare and beautiful sight.

innyworld on Instagram

For best effect, position yourself as far east in Manhattan as possible. But ensure that when you look west across the avenues you can still see New Jersey. Clear cross streets include 14th, 23rd, 34th. 42nd, 57th, and several streets adjacent to them. The Empire State building and the Chrysler building render 34th street and 42nd streets especially striking vistas.-----

innyworld on Instagram

Unnoticed by many, the sunset point actually creeps day to day along the horizon: northward until the first day of summer, then returning southward until the first day of winter. In spite of what pop-culture tells you, the Sun rises due east and sets due west only twice per year. On the equinoxes: the first day of spring and of autumn. Every other day, the Sun rises and sets elsewhere on the horizon. Had Manhattan's grid been perfectly aligned with the geographic north-south line, then the days of Manhattanhenge would coincide with the equinoxes. But Manhattan's street grid is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the days of alignment elsewhere into the calendar.

midnight.xpress on Instagram

So Manhattanhenge may just be a unique urban phenomenon in the world, if not the universe."

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***ALL the above text is from the American Museum of Natural History's website. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains it all in a way that makes sense to me, and since I could never summarize, I felt it best to send you over to the original page, which you can do by clicking here.

And.... my first Manhattanhenge was this year.

It was a bust due to some low-lying clouds, but was fun to see all the photographers (and wanna-be photographers) trying to get a good angle. Of course, as you can see above, a great vantage point is important as well :)



So tell me...
Have you ever been to Manhattanhenge?
Or, have you ever been to Stonehenge, and think this pales in comparison?
What cool phenomenon does your area have or boast of?


                 
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