manhattanhenge

Because the concrete and steel canyons of New York City follow a grid that’s offset from true West by twenty-nine degrees, the sunset does not align with the summer and winter solstices but rather on dates spread out evenly around them, namely 31 May, 12 – 13 July and on 22 December, drifting slightly from year to year. Here is a picture courtesy of Space Weather from last evening taken from one of the best vantage points in the city, looking down 34th Street. Relatedly, when planning the layout of Milton Keynes in the early 1960s, developers consulted Greenwich Observatory to arrange the corridors of the town centre to frame the rising sun on Midsummer and sunset on Midwinter