- Manhattanhenge
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Satellite view of Manhattan centered on the intersection of Park Avenue and 34th Street, showing directions and local times of sunsets (solid arrows) and sunrises (dotted arrows) during Manhattanhenge (black), summer solstice (red), equinoxes (purple) and winter solstice (blue) in 2011. Times marked * have been adjusted for daylight saving. Click the image for an expanded view.
Looking west along 42nd Street at 8:23 p.m. on July 13, 2006. This photo shows the sun lined up with the center line of 42nd Street.
Manhattanhenge – sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice – is a semiannual occurrence in which the setting sun aligns with the east–west streets of the main street grid in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The term is derived from Stonehenge, at which the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices. It was popularized in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. It applies to those streets that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which are laid out in a grid offset 29.0 degrees from true east–west. (The 29.0 degrees should be added to true east and west, making the western bearing approximately 299.0 degrees.) During Manhattanhenge, an observer on one of the gridded east-west streets will see the sun setting over New Jersey directly opposite from the street, along its centerline.
The dates of Manhattanhenge are usually around May 28 and July 12 or July 13 – spaced evenly around summer solstice. In 2011, Manhattanhenge occurred on May 31 at 8:17 p.m., and on July 12 (full sun) and 13 (half sun), both at 8:25 p.m.[1][2]
The two corresponding mornings of sunrise right on the center lines of the Manhattan grid are approximately December 5 and January 8 – spaced evenly around winter solstice.[3] As with the solstices and equinoxes, the dates vary somewhat from year to year.[citation needed]
Contents
Related phenomena
The same phenomenon happens in other cities with a uniform street grid. Such occurrences would coincide with the vernal and autumnal equinox only if the grid plan was laid out precisely north-south and east-west, and perfectly aligned with true north as opposed to magnetic north. The situation in Baltimore, Maryland comes fairly close, with its sunrises on March 25 and September 18 and sunsets on March 12 and September 29.[4] In Chicago, Illinois, the setting sun lines up with the grid system on September 25, a phenomenon known similarly as Chicagohenge.[5] In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the setting sun lines up with the east–west streets on October 25 and February 16, a phenomenon known locally as Torontohenge.[6][7] In Montreal, Quebec, Canada, there may be a Montrealhenge each year on July 12.[8]
In popular culture
- The Manhattanhenge phenomenon was the focus of the episode of CSI: NY that aired on November 25, 2009.[9]
- The hardcore punk band Fucked Up used an image of Manhattanhenge for the cover of their 2008 album, The Chemistry of Common Life.[10]
- The closing scene from the 2010 film Morning Glory features Mike Pomeroy, played by Harrison Ford, and Becky Fuller, played by Rachel McAdams, walking off into the Manhattanhenge sunset.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ Tyson, Neil deGrasse. "Manhattanhenge" on the Hayden Planetarium website
- ^ Harris, Rachel Lee. "Hot City, a Guide" New York Times (March 28, 2011)
- ^ Tyson, Neil deGrasse. "Sunset on 34th Street Along the Manhattan Grid". Natural History. American Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 2007-06-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20070601163613/http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/cityofstars.html. Retrieved 2007-10-11. "Manhattan has two such special days: May 28 and July 12. On these days, the Sun fully illuminates every single cross street during the last fifteen minutes of daylight and sets exactly on the street’s centerline."
- ^ Roylance, Frank. "Sunset on 'Manhattanhenge,'" Maryland Weather (The Baltimore Sun meteorology blog), Friday, July 13, 2007.
- ^ "Chicagohenge!". Blog. Chicago Reader. http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2009/08/20/chicagohenge. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
- ^ "Torontohenge". Torontopedia. http://www.Torontopedia.ca/Torontohenge.
- ^ "Experience "Manhattanhenge" in Toronto". Gavan.ca. http://www.gavan.ca/visual-media/photography/experience-manhattanhenge-in-toronto/.
- ^ http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2009/07/14/manhattanhenge-and-montrealhenge/
- ^ "CSI: NY Manhattanhenge (2009)". IMDb.com. 2009-11-25. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1546166/. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
- ^ "Fucked Up". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucked_Up.
External links
- Hayden Planetarium discussion
- Video on Science Friday website
- Manhattanhenge, NOVA scienceNOW, first broadcast September 14, 2006
- New York Times CityRoom Blog from June 1st, 2009
- Manhattan Sunset
- Flickr photos tagged with Manhattanhenge
- Wired New York discussion of Manhattenhenge
- Video interpretation of Manhattanhenge
- Angle is 28.9 degrees
- Torontohenge wiki page on Torontopedia
- What is Manhattanhenge
- Manhattanhenge images on Yahoo! news July 12, 2011
Categories:- Culture of Manhattan
- Neologisms
- Words coined in the 2000s
- Solar phenomena
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