Manhattanhenge

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 photograph shows the sun lined up with the center line of 42nd Street.

Manhattanhenge – sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice – is a circumstance which occurs twice a year, during 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 neologism is derived from Stonehenge, where the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices with a similarly dramatic effect. The word was popularized in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. The term 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 usually occur around May 28 and July 12 or July 13 – spaced evenly around the 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] In 2012, it occurred on Tuesday, May 29 at 8:17 p.m. and Thursday, July 12 at 8:25 p.m. (half sun), and on Wednesday, May 30 at 8:16 p.m. and Wednesday, July 11 at 8:24 p.m. (full sun).^[1]

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 the winter solstice.^[3] As with the solstices and equinoxes, the dates vary somewhat from year to year.^{[citation needed]}

Occurrences

Date	Time	Type
May 31, 2011	8:17 p.m.	Full sun
July 12, 2011	8:25 p.m.	Full sun
July 13, 2011	8:25 p.m.	Half sun
May 29, 2012	8:17 p.m.	Half sun
May 30, 2012	8:16 p.m.	Full sun
July 11, 2012	8:24 p.m.	Full sun
July 12, 2012	8:25 p.m.	Half sun
May 28, 2013	8:16 p.m.	Half sun
May 29, 2013	8:15 p.m.	Full sun
July 12, 2013	8:23 p.m.	Full sun
July 13, 2013	8:24 p.m.	Half sun

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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 were laid out precisely north-south and east-west, and perfectly aligned with true north as opposed to magnetic north. The situation in Baltimore comes fairly close, with its sunrises on March 25 and September 18 and sunsets on March 12 and September 29.^[4] In Chicago, the setting sun lines up with the grid system on September 25, a phenomenon known similarly as Chicagohenge.^[5] In Toronto, 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, there may be a Montrealhenge each year on July 12.^[8]

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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.