Prepare for social media’s favorite sunset.
On Friday and Saturday evening, July 11 and 12, the sun will line up perfectly with Manhattan’s grid, turning the city’s streets into glowing corridors of light. This rare and radiant moment, called Manhattanhenge, provides picture perfect views straight to New Jersey. New Yorkers can catch it both nights around 8:20 p.m., weather permitting.
Manhattanhenge was named by astrophysicist and National Geographic Explorer Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was inspired by Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. As head of the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium, he began calculating the dates in the late 1990s. He coined the term in 2002, according to The New York Times, though there are references to “solar grid day” going back to the ‘80s.
“Manhattanhenge is ‘astronomy in your face,’” says Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, who now calculates the event’s dates.
The spectacle is possible thanks to Manhattan’s 19th-century street grid, which was designed with 90-degree angles. While many people assume the sun sets due west each evening, it actually only sets due west twice a year, on the spring and fall equinoxes. During the rest of the year, the sunset drifts slightly north across the horizon until the summer solstice and then heads south again. If New York’s grid had been oriented due north, Manhattanhenge would coincide with the equinoxes. But because the grid is tilted about 30 degrees east from geographic north, it happens on different, “Manhattanhenge” days.
For those in New York this week, the best places to see Manhattanhenge are: 14th Street; 23rd Street; 34th Street; 42nd Street and 57th Street.
What you’ll see slightly differs depending on the day you go look. On July 11 the full disc of the sun will hover over the horizon and then on July 12 only half of the sun will kiss the city streets. This week’s solar show is actually a repeat performance as Manhattanhenge also took place earlier this year on May 28 and 29.
If you miss Manhattanhenge’s sunset this year, but are an early-riser, then you can try to catch “Reverse Manhattanhenge” when the sunrise is framed by New York’s buildings November 28 and 29 (and again on January 11 and 12), according to Faherty.
For Faherty, Manhattanhenge is a moment to reflect on how humanity and astronomy have long been intertwined.
“Astronomy used to be the science that helped guide people’s lives. We used the stars to navigate, to tell time, and to know what season we were entering and existing,” she says. “I think now, maybe more than ever, it’s important for people to understand how much science guides their lives and how important it is to use scientific thinking in your everyday life.”
