Manhattanhenge Was A Big Dud (But Don't Worry, There's Three More This Year)

Every year the sunset lines up with Manhattan’s city grid to create one of New York’s most beautiful spectacles.

Observers can stand along any of the city’s 180-or-so perfectly parallel streets and watch the sun set all the way across Manhattan’s two-mile long corridors. Amateur and professional photographers alike are using #manhattanhenge to share on social media.

This was supposed to be an article about all the great pictures that people captured, but Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. The first of this year’s four Manhattanhenges was a total dud. It was supposed to look like this:

Manhattanhenge 2013 from Yosuke Kobayashi on Vimeo.

It turned out like this:

People are understandably a little upset about one of the few New York City spectacles that both tourists and natives can enjoy side by side.

At least its Throwback Thursday, so we can still sort of enjoy last year’s Manhattanhenge.

Let Neil deGrasse Tyson, who came up with the term, explains why Manhattanhenge happens:

Not to worry though, there’s still three more Manhattanhenges to go. There’s supposed to be a “full sun” henge tomorrow, but clouds and possibly rain may spoil that one too.

According to Gothamist, along with tomorrow’s henge, a full sun Manhattanhenge will take place on July 11, between 8:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and a half sun Manhattanhenge will occur the next day around the same time.