I just found out about this. But apparently on May 28 and again on either June 12 or 13 (depending on the year) this phenomenon occurs.
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.
The two corresponding mornings of sunrise right on the center lines of the Manhattan grid are approximately December 5 and January 8 (spaced evenly around Winter Solstice). As with the solstices and equinoxes, the dates vary somewhat from year to year.
Here's a picture from this year:
Anyone care to calculate dates and times for when it will be for 2021?
- Login to post comments
Post to Twitter
This image is from the
It's beautiful. I had no
It's beautiful. I had no idea.
Reminds me of the story of
Reminds me of the story of Brunel's tunnel at Boxhill - which is supposed to be specifically aligned so that the rising sun is visible through it on April 9th (Brunel's birthday).
I'll have to leave the maths to someone else though, gives me a headache just thinking about it...