i always wanted to catch manhattanhenge and this year i finally did. to tell the truth i forgot about it as usual, but luckily i happened to be at a gallery opening in west chelsea for a friend and with my camera on friday july 13th --- so i caught it on the way home!  :wink2:

 

and here is the pic (it's looking west on w26th st bet 11th and 12th aves):

 

 

 

some manhattanhenge info from a blog:

 

Manhattanhendge is that magical moment when the setting sun aligns perfectly with the east-west streets of New York City, shining gloriously through the canyons created by our stone monuments to the urban gods. It happens twice each year, in May and July.

 

The term Manhattanhenge was coined by astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium director Neil Degrasse Tyson in 2002.

 

Manhattanhenge begins at 8:10 p.m. (May 30), and at 8:20 p.m. (July 13), at a cross-street near you.

 

 

http://theblogthatatemanhattan.blogspot.com/2007/05/manhattanhenge-2007.html

 

 

 

Awesome!  Definitely a magical new york moment.

Super cool!  There must be a gazillion good places for a shot of this, but at a rate of twice per year, I don't suppose one person could hit them all.  Anyway, nice picture there, especially with the people and their long shadows.

Is that the Starett-lehigh building?

^ yes it is, the south side of it -- it's the one on the right.

 

i am working on getting a highline thread hosted so i'll post some pics of that beautiful building coming up soon.

 

 

Super cool!  There must be a gazillion good places for a shot of this, but at a rate of twice per year, I don't suppose one person could hit them all.  Anyway, nice picture there, especially with the people and their long shadows.

 

true, but remember if you are in town on those days with your camera and more motivated than i am then at least you can get two opportunities to see it at both sunrise and sunset.

 

unlike my pic, as you can imagine the best pics i have seen are taken from opposite sides of town to the sun.

 

thee very best place i know of to catch manhattanhenge is on the overpass for tudor city on e42nd st looking west (at sunset) ---- but as you said probably any grid street above 14th street would be fine anywhere.

 

also, i guess there is another opportunity to do the same thing on the summer/winter solstice, but only on one street, stuyvesant street in the east village (just above astor place) --- this is the only true north-south oriented street in manhattan.

 

I love what they did to that building.  The Martha Stewart and Hugo Boss offices have great views

true, but remember if you are in town on those days with your camera and more motivated than i am then at least you can get two opportunities to see it at both sunrise and sunset.

I haven't thought long and hard about it, but wouldn't if be just sunrise on one day (in the SE in May) and just sunset (in the NW in July) on the other?  Whatever the case, though, it's a nice rarity!

true, but remember if you are in town on those days with your camera and more motivated than i am then at least you can get two opportunities to see it at both sunrise and sunset.

I haven't thought long and hard about it, but wouldn't if be just sunrise on one day (in the SE in May) and just sunset (in the NW in July) on the other?  Whatever the case, though, it's a nice rarity!

 

i'm not sure i didn't see anything on that -- but if the streets are perfectly straight which they are i would think it would be the same at sunrise as on sunset on that day?

 

even if no technically, it would be so close that it wouldn't matter you would still get the same effects. in fact in reality you do for a few days before and after although it isnt 100% exactly perfect. it definately is a very noticable looong "magic hour" for camera buffs around these days. the yellow glow directly across the streets is mezmerizing.

 

i hope others try to visit on those days and catch it!

 

That's fantastic...the two people in the photo really give it a nice NY vibe.

when I worked at Rock Center and this would happend, the sun is unbearable. 

 

I honestly didn't know there was a name for it!

^ hellllloooo lazybones? cell phone camera?  :whip:

 

hey you know what is cool? dr. neil tyson at the planetarium, who coined the manhattanhenge term, is really doing a lot to publicize astronomy stuff like this these days. he's all over the place -- he led the charge to demote pluto from a planet to a minor planet and was on tv taking about mahattanhenge a lot earler this summer. at the time when i saw the scene in that pic and whipped out the camera i thought of him.

 

^ hellllloooo lazybones? cell phone camera?  :whip:

 

LOL.  I didn't know and that was before my staff moved into the Time & Life building and then into the TW building.  I'm getting a new camera soon, so I promise to take more pics of NYC.  OK??  Now don't expect any MayDay type stuff

excellent -- at last all our browbeating has worked!

Aye!  Just for that I'm going to post photo threads of those stinkin horses on Central Park South or God awful tacky tourist shoppers in the shops at Columbus Circle!

 

That will bore and teach you a lesson!!

i walked the whole highline that morning for a new thread i am working on getting hosted and i found this shot i took earlier of the starrett-leigh building -- it's very same corner, but in the daytime:

 

 

What, no 2008 Manhattanhenge pics? :( Wasn't it in July?

 

Considering Manhattan's density and large number of windows on each of the buildings, I'm sure it's pretty intense. It sucks that pictures will never do it justice because of the inevitable friggin' glare.

what the? you randomly remind me of this two months after it's over?  :whip:  remind me a couple days ahead of time next summer --- and while you're at it don't forget to include the sunrise/sunset times too  :laugh: