Manhattanhenge: when and where to watch one of the best sunrises in New York

Four times a year, the sun and the earth line up. At this moment, in Manhattan in New York, you can observe a unique phenomenon - Manhattanhenge - that will appeal to photographers and users of the social network Instagram. This publication writes USA Today.

One of the best sunrises 2020

If you plan to stay in New York on January 22 and are ready to wake up early enough to go to the intersection of 5th Avenue and 41st Street, then you have a chance to see one of the best sunrises of 2020.

A unique phenomenon is called Manhattanhenge. It occurs when the sun is lined up in a perfect line in Manhattan and it seems that it is kissing the street.

"It's insanely popular," said Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. "People plan their holidays by coming to New York to see it."

Faherty calculates the exact dates and times when it is possible to observe the phenomenon, they vary slightly adjusted for a leap year.

In 2020, according to Faherty, Manhattanj will take place at sunset on May 29 and July 12. Dates of unusual sunrise are difficult to determine. “If we talk about sunrise in Manhattan, then there is a day and time that correspond to the constructed grid of the city,” explained Faherty. "The dates for sunrise in Manhattan this year are approximately November 29 and 30 and January 11 and 12."

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But, as noted, part of the sun on these dates will be blocked by the eastern horizon. “I did some work to figure out the correct streethenge for sunrise,” Flaherty explained. "On January 22, we should have a beautiful alignment on 5th Avenue and 41st Street at sunrise."

While Stonehenge in England has helped people determine the time of the year throughout its history, Manhattanj has turned out to be an accidental phenomenon. “At Stonehenge, when the sun shines through the center of the monument, the summer solstice is celebrated, but Manhattange does not have a higher value as the dates on which it occurs are arbitrary,” Faherty explained.

How did this phenomenon appear?

There are two factors that contributed to the emergence of today's Manhattan: the shape of the island and the urban grid. "In the 1800s, there was something called the 'grid plan,' according to which the tycoons of New York at the time made the decision to build New York," Faherty said. "They created a grid of long streets and placed intersections at 90 degrees."

Faherty explained that the term “Manhattange” was coined by the astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium, Neil de Grasse Tyson. According to her, he first used the term in 1997. The term itself was popularized in the early 2000s.

Surprisingly, Manhattan was visible before the grid was created. Faherty did some research to determine if people had noticed it in the past. And it turned out that they noticed - they just called it differently, including the "Manhattan Solstice."