Manhattanhenge 2022: How To Catch NYC's Special Sunsets This Week

NEW YORK CITY — Cue up your Instagrams: Manhattan's street grid will align with the setting sun for the first time this year on Sunday, giving rise to the spectacular vistas known as Manhattanhenge,

The annual event will be visible starting around 8:12 p.m. on Sunday, when the half-sun will appear at the end of Manhattan's east-west numbered streets, according to the American Museum of Natural History.

Every ensuing evening between Sunday and July 12 will feature a similar effect, as the sun will nestle itself between the city's buildings before dipping below the Hudson River. Two dates — May 30 and July 11 — will feature the most impressive sunsets of all, when the full sun can be seen in all its spherical wonder along the grid.

The Natural History Museum recommends viewing Manhattanhenge in the following spots:

• 14th Street
• 23rd Street
• 34th Street
• 42nd Street
• 57th Street
• Tudor City Overpass, Manhattan
• Hunter's Point South Park, Long Island City, Queens

Sunset-watchers should find a spot as far east as possible, while still having views of New Jersey across the Hudson River, the AMNH recommends.

"Manhattanhenge" was first coined as a term in 1997 by the astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who described the effect in an article in Natural History magazine. It has become a phenomenon in recent years, with crowds filling Midtown intersections to catch a glimpse — and a photo.

If Manhattan's street grid were aligned perfectly north-south, Manhattanhenge would fall perfectly on the summer equinox, when it sets due west, the AMNH explains. But since the borough's streets are rotated about 30 degrees east, the days of alignment are shifted.