July 11, 2011
Pre-Manhattanhenge sunset primer for July 2011
If the weather cooperates, Manhattanhenge will return this week, with the sun setting in alignment with the street grid on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
For a more scientific examination of the uniquely NYC event, the American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday will host a lecture featuring its Zeiss Mark IX star projector and Digital Universe atlas.
The $15 lecture by Jackie Faherty, a research scientist in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics, will begin at 7 p.m.
Manhattanhenge dates:
Full-sun on the grid
Tuesday, July 12 at 8:25 p.m.
Half-sun on the grid
Wednesday, July 13 at 8:25 p.m.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of the museum’s Hayden Planetarium, first coined the term Manhattanhenge and he calculates the dates each summer. Since the Manhattan street grid is not aligned to true north, the half-sun/full-sun Manhattanhenge events take place twice each summer - before and after summer solstice.
This year’s dates got an extra dose of confusion since deGrasse Tyson recently recalculated the July Manhattanhenge dates “to better represent the actual New Jersey horizon visible from looking west across Manhattan.”
Keep in mind that the sunset is best viewed at street level with a long, unobstructed western view framed by tall buildings. If the weather’s good, expect big crowds; if the weather’s bad, expect no sunset.
Picture credit: A 34th Street Manhattanhenge sunset in 2009. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: 2011 Manhattanhenge: May 30/31 and July 12/13
July 11, 2011 1:14 PM in Architecture, Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Midtown, Upper West Side
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