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      Manhattanhenge is a circumstance that 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, anastrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History). 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.

      Arrive a half-hour earlier than the times given below. For best effect, position yourself as far east in Manhattan as possible. But ensure that when you look west across the avenues you can still see New Jersey. Clear cross streets include 14th, 23rd, 34th. 42nd, 57th, and several streets adjacent to them. The Empire State building and the Chrysler building render 34th street and 42nd streets especially striking vistas.

       Mock-up of the half sun on the grid during Manhattanhenge:

      Tuesday, May 28 8:16 P.M. EDT

      Saturday, July 13 8:24 P.M. EDT

      Mock-up of the full sun on the grid during Manhattanhenge:

      Wednesday, May 29 8:15 P.M. EDT

      Friday, July 12 8:23 P.M. EDT

  About Solstices and Equinoxes:

     The sunset point actually creeps day to day along the horizon: northward until the first day of summer, then returning southward until the first day of winter. In spite of what pop-culture tells you, the Sun rises due east and sets due west only twice per year (around 20 March and 22 September). On the equinoxes: the first day of spring and of autumn, when day and night are the same length. Every other day, the Sun rises and sets elsewhere on the horizon. Had Manhattan's grid been perfectly aligned with the geographic north-south line, then the days of Manhattanhenge would coincide with the equinoxes. But Manhattan's street grid is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the days of alignment elsewhere into the calendar. So Manhattanhenge may just be a unique urban phenomenon in the world, if not the universe.

     The summer solstice is the first day of summer and is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight – except in the polar regions, where daylight is continuous for anything from a few days to six months centered on the summer solstice. This happens twice each year (once at each hemisphere), at which times the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North or South Pole respectively. Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied among cultures, but most have held a recognition of sign of the fertility, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time. In the Northern hemisphere the summer solstice occurs on June 21.

     The winter solstice is the first day of winter and it is the longest night (and the shortest day) of the year, when the sun appears at noon at its lowest altitude above the horizon. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the Southern solstice, the time at which the Sun is at its southernmost point in the sky, which usually occurs on December 21.