Manhattanhenge 2025: Will it be visible?
Manhattanhenge mayhem
Photographers stood atop parked vehicles and tripods were chained to the fence overnight to claim real estate for Monday's golden hour.
NEW YORK CITY - Manhattanhenge 2025 is tonight in New York City, but will you be able to see it?
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The captivating event occurs when the sun sets perfectly in the center of Manhattan's east-west streets.
Here are some details about when and where you can witness it, as well as if the weather will hold up.
Manhattanhenge 2025 dates
Manhattanhenge does not take place on the summer solstice itself. Instead, it happens about three weeks before the solstice and again about three weeks after.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 11: Two birds fly through the middle of the street as people gather around to watch the sun set during Manhattanhenge in Times Square on July 11, 2022 in New York City. Manhattanhenge, which happened in May and now again in
That's when the sun aligns itself perfectly with the Manhattan grid's east-west streets.
When is Manhattanhenge 2025
Here's when Manhattanhenge will occur in 2025:
- Wednesday, May 28. (Half sun)
- Thursday, May 29. (Full sun)
- Friday, July 11. (Full sun)
- Saturday, July 12. (Half sun)
Manhattanhenge best viewing times
The best viewing time for Wednesday is 8:13 p.m., FOX 5 NY's Mike Woods said. For Thursday, the best viewing time is 8:12 p.m.
Where to see Manhattanhenge
The traditional viewing spots are along the city's broad east-west thoroughfares:
- 14th Street
- 23rd Street
- 34th Street
- 42nd Street
- 79th Street
Weather in NYC today
Unfortunately, a potentially cloudy sky might obscure the display.
However, Thursday night's viewing might prove more fruitful – there will be a decreased chance for rain tomorrow evening.
Where does the name Manhattanhenge come from?
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article in the magazine Natural History. Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York's American Museum of Natural History, has said that he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager.
The future host of TV shows like PBS' "Nova ScienceNow" was part of an expedition led by Gerald Hawkins, the scientist who first theorized that Stonehenge's mysterious megaliths were an ancient astronomical observatory.
It struck Tyson, a native New Yorker, that the setting sun framed by Manhattan's high-rises could be compared to the sun's rays striking the center of the Stonehenge circle on the solstice.
Unlike the Neolithic Stonehenge builders, the planners who laid out Manhattan did not mean to channel the sun. It just worked out that way.
Is Manhattanhenge an organized event?
Manhattanhenge viewing parties are not unknown. The beverage company San Pellegrino hosted an "exclusive Manhattanhenge celebration" on a bridge spanning East 42th Street in 2018.
But Manhattanhenge is mostly a DIY affair. People gather on east-west streets a half an hour or so before sunset and snap photo after photo as dusk approaches. That's if the weather is fine. There's no visible Manhattanhenge on rainy or cloudy days.
Do other cities have 'henges'?
Similar effects occur in other cities with uniform street grids. Chicagohenge and Baltimorehenge happen when the setting sun lines up with the grid systems in those cities during March and September, around the spring and fall equinoxes. Torontohenge occurs around Feb. 16 and Oct. 25.
But Manhattanhenge is particularly striking because of the height of the buildings and the unobstructed path to the Hudson.