Manhattanhenge

I went on a shoot with B&H Photo last night with about 50 people jumping in and out of NYC traffic to record this event and it was worth the colorful commentary from our beloved NYC drivers.

Manhattanhenge (sometimes referred to as Manhattan Solstice) is a biannual occurrence in which the setting sun aligns with the east-west streets of Manhattan's main street grid. The term is derived from Stonehenge, at which the sun aligns with the stones on the solstices. It was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. It applies to those streets that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which laid out a grid offset 28.9 degrees from true east-west.

At sunset, a traveler along one of the north-south avenues on the West Side looking east can observe the phenomenon indirectly, being struck by the reflected light of the many windows which are aligned with the grid. An observer on the East Side can look west and see the Sun shining down a canyon-like street.

That is a great shot! I hope you didn't seriously endanger yourself...

It is just perfect.

Thank you!

:hi:

traffic turning onto 34th didn't have much of a chance with a flock photographers scurrying on masse every time the light turned red.

Great shot!

I wasn't the only one lugging around about 25+lbs of camera equipment to catch this event and trying to position a tripod in the middle of the street when the light turned red but I also brought my small Leica and caught this shot hand held first shot out of the box; I could have saved my back, small and mobile was the way to go.

or does it take a couple of days for the sun to shift out of range.

If it's still visible tonight I'll ask my son to take a picture of it for me.

next one will occur Friday, May 28, 2010