• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Manhattanhenge Is Coming: What It Is And How To See It

May 28, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

The Met Gala? That’s old news. The most Instagrammable event in Manhattan during May is something anyone can get a ticket to if they happen to be in the city, thanks to an unexpected partnership between the Sun and the street grid known as Manhattanhenge.

Advertisement

What is Manhattanhenge?

Yes, Manhattanhenge sounds like a made-up word and yes, that’s because it is – but the phenomenon itself is definitely real. 

Advertisement

It’s a bi-annual event when the sunset lines up with the Manhattan street grid, meaning anyone who happens to be on any street heading east and west – at least those with a clear view down towards New Jersey across the Hudson River – is met with an esthetically pleasing sunset.

Why does it happen?

If that seems reminiscent of what goes on at Stonehenge, you’re thinking along the right lines.

The term “Manhattanhenge” was coined by famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He named it so because the phenomenon reminded him of the prehistoric monument, where the stones are aligned towards the rising Sun on the summer solstice and the setting Sun on the winter solstice.

Whilst there’s some debate over whether Stonehenge was designed like that with some sort of purpose, Manhattanhenge is just a coincidence – even though it would make a great conspiracy theory if it weren’t. The island of Manhattan is tilted roughly 30 degrees east of true north and when authorities were making designs for the street grid, it was tilted in the same way to line up with this.

Advertisement

“But doesn’t the Sun set in the west?”, we hear you ask. That’s actually a generalization; the Sun only sets due west twice a year, on the spring and fall equinoxes. The rest of the time, it sets somewhere north or south of due west on the horizon. Since the street grid is at an angle and not lined up from true north to south, that’s why Manhattanhenge happens around late May and mid-July, and not on the equinoxes. 

How can I see it this year?

There are four options for viewing Manhattanhenge this year depending on what you want to see – and if you miss out on those this month, there’s more in July.

If you want to view just the half Sun on the grid, that’s happening on May 28 at 8:13 pm ET and July 13 at 8:21 pm ET. For the Manhattanhenge effect in its full glory, head to the island on May 29 at 8:12 pm ET or July 12 at 8:20 pm ET.

As for the best place to see it, any east/west street with a view to New Jersey will do, but Tyson recommends some of the most spectacular views to be on 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, and 57th Street.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Cricket-NZ players reach Dubai after ‘specific, credible threat’ derailed Pakistan tour
  2. Soccer-Liverpool’s Alexander-Arnold ruled out of Man City game
  3. What Are Baby Platypuses Called?
  4. Should You Wash Chicken Before Cooking It?

Source Link: Manhattanhenge Is Coming: What It Is And How To See It

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Dangerous Radiation Awaits Astronauts On Mars – New Mission Could Work Out Just How Much
  • A 4.9 Million-Year-Old Ecosystem Of Interconnected Worlds Is Preserved In A Tennessee Sinkhole
  • 100 Years Since The Scopes (Monkey) Trial: How Much Has Changed Since America’s “Trial Of The Century”?
  • Elephants Use All Kinds Of Gestures To Communicate – They Just Want Apples
  • NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Finds Evidence Of “Barrier” In The Sun’s 2 Million Kelvin Atmosphere
  • Watching Videos At Higher Speeds May Save Time But It Has Some Drawbacks
  • In 2008, Ukraine’s Space Agency Sent A Message To Planet Gliese 581c. It Will Arrive In 2029
  • In A First, A Robot Listened To Spoken Instructions And Performed Surgery – Just Like A Human Would
  • Newly Discovered “Bone-Digesting” Cells Help Burmese Pythons Consume Every Last Bit Of Their Prey
  • Gold Can Be Made By Scientists In A Lab – There’s Just One Problem
  • Recovery Of 24-Million-Year-Old Protein Fragments From Extinct Animal Opens “New Chapter” Of Biology
  • 6 Leading Medical Organizations Team Up To Sue RFK Jr Over COVID-19 Vaccine Policy
  • Less Ice, More Fire: Evidence Melting Glaciers Make Volcanic Eruptions More Explosive
  • This Mini Fridge-Sized Spacecraft Could Study A Time Of The Universe We’ve Never Seen Before
  • Psilocybin Shows Potential In Slowing Human Cell Aging And Increasing Lifespan In Mice
  • Blue Sharks’ Freaky Tooth-Skin Makes It Possible For Them To Change Color To Green And Even Gold
  • Summer In The Northern Hemisphere Will Be 15 Minutes Shorter Than Last Year’s
  • Your Ability To Be Funny May Not Be Inherited After All, And That’s Really Unexpected
  • New Interstellar Comet Tracked To Its Origin Region: “It’s Much Older Than The Solar System”
  • ChatGPT Gets “Absolutely Wrecked” By An Atari Video Chess Game Built In 1979
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version