What Is “Manhattanhenge” (and Does Your City Have Its Own Henge)?
“Manhattanhenge” is back to chatter as the phenomenon comes to an end on Tuesday, but what the hell is it? If you live in New York (or follow someone who lives on social media), you’ve probably seen something about Manhattanhenge, which happens when the sun sets perfectly between the buildings that make up the city’s iconic skyline. People stop to take pictures of the event, which is rarer than you might think. Here is what Manhattanhenge is like and if there is something similar in your city.
What is Manhattanhenge?
According to the American Museum of Natural History , the real Manhattanhenge only happens twice a year. According to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who wrote an explanatory note for the museum, two days a year the setting sun aligns exactly with the grid of Manhattan’s streets, “creating a radiant light across Manhattan’s brick and steel canyons, illuminating both north and south at the same time. sides of each intersection in the district network.
Sometimes you will see less informed people posting sunset photos from Manhattan and mislabeling them as Manhattanhenge. While sunsets are always beautiful (and photographable ), they are not always a true Manhattanhenge. Notably, these two days are in spring and midsummer, but the day after each is also considered to be a sort of half Manhattanhenge, as half of the sun’s disk will set above the horizon. In the true days of Manhattanhenge, a full disk is above the horizon. However, all four days are suitable for surprise and photography.
Manhattan’s main east-west streets are the best places to see Manhattanhenge at sunset, which means you should head to 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, or 57th Street. It can also be seen from Hunters Point South Park in Long Island City.
The name, by the way, is a reference to Stonehenge, a prehistoric arrangement of vertical stones in England. Every year on the summer solstice, the sun rises next to a row of those stones that at that time told people that a new season was approaching.
Do all cities have a henge?
The American Museum of Natural History has some good news for non-New Yorkers: “Note that any city traversed by a rectangular grid can identify the days when the setting sun aligns with its streets.”
And now for the bad news: “But a closer look at such cities around the world shows that they are far from ideal for this purpose.”
What makes Manhattanhenge so successful is the straight lines of the city grid, the clear skyline they offer, and the tall, vertical buildings that line these streets and frame the stage. However, there are cities that have their own henji. Baltimore has the same version as Chicago and Toronto .
Your local alignment of the sun and buildings may not match the infamous New York version, but it’s worth a quick Google search to determine where, when, and how you can see the phenomenon for yourself, wherever you are.