As if there weren’t already enough cool things for New Yorkers to do, tomorrow offers residents of the Big Apple the chance to see a rare occurence: Manhattanhenge (also sometimes called the Manhattan Solstice, but we prefer the name Manhattanhenge because the term was coined by the awesome Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson).
Manhattanhenge doesn’t involve any ancient and mysterious rock formations like the prehistoric English monument that gave it the “henge” part of its name, but it’s a suitable replacement.
Manhattanhenge is the twice-yearly event during which the sun sets exactly in line with the east-west streets that cut across Manhattan. It creates some pretty cool visuals, which you can see in the pictures below:
This year, Manhattanhenge will take place on May 29th (tomorrow) and again on July 12th. As deGrasse Tyson points out, “these two days happen to correspond with Memorial Day and Baseball’s All Star break. Future anthropologists might conclude that, via the Sun, the people who called themselves Americans worshiped War and Baseball.”
For any readers lucky enough to be in NYC tomorrow, we recommend finding a patio with a good view west. The sun will set somewhere around 8:15-8:30 (look it up if you want the exact time), so make sure you don’t miss out.