The American Museum of Natural History has released this year's Manhattanhenge dates—that magical four times a year when the sun aligns perfectly with Manhattan's street grid and humans step into oncoming traffic to get that perfect shot. Here's this year's schedule:
- WEDNESDAY, MAY 29th, AT 8:13 PM EDT (HALF SUN)
- THURSDAY, MAY 30th, AT 8:12 PM EDT (FULL SUN)
- FRIDAY, JULY 12th, AT 8:20 PM EDT (FULL SUN)
- SATURDAY, JULY 13th, AT 8:21 PM EDT (HALF SUN)
According to the Museum, the phenomenon and the "cinema-worthy photo opportunities" it creates are best seen from "large cross streets such as 14th, 34th, 42nd, 57th, and 79th." And you'll want to get there early to beat the crowds. Of course, in recent years some businesses have offered VIP viewing events, so look out for those, too.
It's worth noting that this is the first year the Museum has wiped their press release of any mention of Neil deGrasse Tyson. Typically the release contains a few lines about how "The term 'Manhattanhenge' was coined by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, as a play on Stonehenge, where the Sun aligns with the stones on the sunrise of the summer solstice with a similarly dramatic effect." This year, his name doesn't show up once. While the Museum has kept quiet on the matter, last year Tyson's name hit the headlines when he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. At the time, his TV show StarTalk was suspended while Fox and Nat Geo performed an internal investigation. In March this year, they announced they had concluded their investigation and planned to air the remaining 13 episodes of the show.
In January, a spokesperson for the AMNH confirmed with Gothamist that "an investigation is underway" regarding Tyson, but declined to give further comment. We reached out for the current status of the investigation and will update if we hear back.
