Gothamist loves the summer solstice! We love the music, the meditation, and the elegant astronomical sculpture in Midtown that is a tribute to the Earth's revolution around our Sun. Astronomical sculpture in Midtown? The sculpture stands in the McGraw-Hill building plaza on Sixth Ave between 48th and 49th Streets. We braved a street fair, which Gothamist deluded itself into thinking was for the solstice, and were the only curious tourist taking photos of the sculpture at solar noon yesterday.
The sculpture is designed so that at solar noon, when the sun is directly to our south, the sun's rays were exactly parallel to the long side of the triangle and the sculpture casts its shortest shadow of the year. It is a beautiful sunny day today and we're only about 15 hours past the solstice so you should check out the sculpture yourself this afternoon. Solar noon is at 12:57 p.m. If you don't see it today your next chance to catch this phenomenon is on the winter solstice when sunlight will be parallel to the bottom leg of the triangle, but when the weather will be iffy for having lunch outside.
