The Manhattan solstice: New York's stunning light show

We have the historic and spectacular beauty of Stonehenge, and in America they have the unique urban phenomenon of ... Manhattanhenge.

Twice a year the sun aligns to bathe the city that never sleeps in glowing light.

As the sun sets over the American city on these special days, streets on the Manhattan grid are illuminated in a way that has been compared to the solstice at Stonehenge.

Every single cross-street is tinged with orange sunlight for the last fifteen minutes of the day.

The term Manhattanhenge was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.

It applies to those streets that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 which laid out a grid offset 28.9 degrees from true east-west.

Had they been set directly on the east-west line, the phenomenon would coincide with the spring and autumn equinoxes.

As the sun sets behind the Chrysler Building in New York City it gives the Art Deco skyscraper a golden glow.

The word solstice translates from the Latin word solstitium, which means "stopped sun".

It refers to the winter and summer solstices when the sun reaches its most extreme southern and northern points.

据英国《每日邮报》报道，一年两次的罕见日落美景在纽约上空罕见上演，与英国索尔兹伯里(Salisbury)平原上的史前时期巨大石柱群景观一样，这一独特的城市奇景也颇为壮观,该现象被称为“曼哈顿至日”。

据报道，该景观一年仅有两次，而且还不是年年都有，整个纽约不夜城便沐浴在阳光下。在“曼哈顿至日”出现的这几天里，当太阳落下时，在纽约曼哈顿地区的格网街道的排列形式就如同巨大石柱群布局一样。

每一处的十字路口都沐浴着金灿灿的阳光长达15分钟。

“曼哈顿至日”这个词语是美国自然历史博物馆天体物理学家尼尔-迪格拉斯-泰森 （Neil deGrasse Tyson）在2002年首次使用到的。它应用于那些符合1811年纽约市规划（ Commissioners' Plan of 1811）的格网街道 。这些街道符合从东西方向偏移28.9度的规律。由于这些街道刚好在东西线上，因此该景观出现的时间刚好与春分和秋分时间一致，形成了自然与人工建筑的和谐搭配。