Manhattanhenge: A New York City Sunset
			
		
		
			Image Credit & Copyright:  
Neil deGrasse
Tyson 
(AMNH)
		
		
			This coming Saturday, if it is clear, well placed New Yorkers can 
go outside at sunset and watch their city act like a modern version of 
Stonehenge.  
Manhattan's streets will flood dramatically with 
sunlight just as the Sun sets precisely at each street's western end.
Usually, the tall buildings 
that line the gridded streets of 
New York City's tallest borough will hide the setting Sun.  
This effect makes Manhattan 
a type of modern 
Stonehenge, 
although only aligned to about 30 
degrees east of north.  
Were Manhattan's road grid perfectly aligned to east and west, 
today's effect would occur on the 
Vernal and 
Autumnal Equinox, 
March 21 and September 21, the only two days that the 
Sun rises and sets due east and west.  
Pictured above in this horizontally stretched image,
the Sun sets down
34th Street as
viewed from 
Park Avenue.
If Saturday's sunset is hidden by clouds do not despair -- the same thing happens twice each year:  
in late May and mid July.  
On none of these occasions, however, should you ever 
look directly at the Sun.