March 20, 2011
2011 Manhattanhenge: May 30/31 and July 11/12/13
Although the vernal equinox and the supermoon nearly aligned today, New York City will have to wait until May for Manhattanhenge, according to Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He’s also something of the grand priest of Manhattanhenge, since he’s the one who discovered the uniquely New York phenomenon, named it, and each year calculates the dates the sun will set perfectly in alignment with the street grid.
Update as of June 28: Gothamist notes that deGrasse Tyson has updated his Manhattanhenge page, which now says: “July dates shifted from earlier posting by one day to better represent the actual New Jersey horizon visible from looking west across Manhattan.”
The 2011 Manhattanhenge dates:
Half-sun on the grid:
Monday, May 30 at 8:17 p.m.
Tuesday, July 12 Wednesday, July 13 at 8:25 p.m.
Full-sun on the grid:
Tuesday, May 31 at 8:17 p.m.
Monday, July 11 Tuesday, July 12 at 8:25 p.m.
For best views of the Stonehenge-like sunset, deGrasse Tyson suggests showing up half an hour before the times listed. “For Manhattan, a place where evening matters more than morning, that special day comes twice a year,” he writes on the museum’s website. “For 2011 they fall on May 30th, and July 12th, when the setting Sun aligns precisely with the Manhattan street grid, creating a radiant glow of light across Manhattan’s brick and steel canyons, simultaneously illuminating both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough’s grid. A rare and beautiful sight. 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.”
The Manhattanhenge dates don’t align with the equinox because Manhattan’s street grid is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north.
Correction as of March 21; This post originally listed the wrong days of the week (but the correct dates.) They’ve been fixed.
Picture credit: Manhattanhenge from 34th Street. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier:
deGrasse Tyson cocktail hour on life, universe, everything
Manhattanhenge 2010: May 30/31 and July 11/12
New York City’s perfect sunset: Manhattanhenge
March 20, 2011 11:14 AM in Sightsology
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