The sun sets over the west side of New York City, known as
Manhattanhenge, a term …
It is dubbed "Manhattanhenge" and happens two times a year when
the Sun aligns at dusk with streets in a glowing magic trick as
rays of sunlight span across New York perfectly, from west to
east.
"Manhattanhenge may just be a unique urban phenomenon in the
world," says astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, of the American
Museum of Natural History, who officially discovered the
phenomenon.
The name "Manhattanhenge" is a play on Manhattan, this city's
most famous borough, and Stonehenge, the megalithic monument in
southern England with large stone blocks set out in concentric
circles.
At Stonehenge, the Sun crosses the site's central axis during
the summer and winter solstices, leading experts to speculate that
the site could have been used as a sort of sun calendar, as well as
for religious ceremonies.
But in Manhattan, the phenomenon takes place before and after
the solstices when at dusk but before sunset, the Sun neatly
matches up with the even-numbered streets running west and east,
sending out fingers of light.
"As a kid I visited Stonehenge in the Salisbury Plain of England
and did research on other stone monuments across the British
Isles," DeGrasse Tyson told AFP.
"So I was, in a way, imprinted by the emotional power that
terrestrial alignments with the Sun can have on a culture or
civilization."
And New York's phenomenon is more unusual than it may seem, he
says.
"Any city crossed by a rectangular grid can identify days where
the setting Sun aligns with their streets. But a closer look at
such cities around the world shows them to be less than ideal for
this purpose," he stressed.
DeGrasse Tyson first started thinking about the "Manhattanhenge"
effect back in 1996. It was not until five years later, July 2001,
that he took a photo of the Sun-meets-skyscrapers display.
It and others were published in 2002 in a special edition of
Natural History Magazine called "City of Stars," he said. And the
effect began to become better known.
This year, the effect took place May 30 -- before the June 21
solstice -- and now it will be seen again on Wednesday July 13,
though it can be seen partially one day earlier.
In wintertime, the phenomenon is seen around December 5 and
January 8. But weather conditions tend not to be ideal, and make it
hard for anyone to spot.
To get a good take on the event, DeGrasse Tyson recommends that
you "position yourself as far east in Manhattan as possible."
Some of the streets where the show shines best are 14th, 23rd,
34th and 42nd, offering incredible views of the Empire State
building and the Chrysler building.
The American Museum of Natural History is offering on Tuesday a
special program at the Hayden Planetarium with a visual tour of
"Manhattanhenge."