New York Marathon at mile 15 around 11am – Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil, who later won, is at right in yellow. Runners just came from gnomon along Crescent Street, which will be the path of the shadow later in the day at 2pm.
? Full Sun on grid: Friday, July 11 ? 8:24 P.M.
? Half Sun on grid: Saturday, July 12 ? 8:25 P.M.
See below for more info.
Earlier posts about the phenomena of Manhattanhenge: overview and map, and photos.
From the Hayden Planetarium’s “Star Struck” email announcement by astronomer Neal deGrasse Tyson:
It’s that time of year again….
These two days give you a photogenic view with half the Sun above and half the Sun below the horizon — on the grid. The day after May 29th (Friday, May 30th), and the day before July 12 (Friday, July 11) will also give you Manhattanhenge moments, but instead you will see the entire ball of the Sun on the horizon — on the grid. My personal preference is the half-Sun.
Note that a couple of years ago, an article in the New York Times identified this annual event as the “Manhattan Solstice”. But of course, the word “solstice” translates from the Latin solstitium, meaning “stopped sun,” in reference to the winter and summer solstices where the Sun’s daily arc across the sky reaches its extreme southerly and northerly limits. Manhattanhenge comes about because the Sun’s arc has *not* yet reached these limits, and is on route to them, as we catch a brief glimpse of the setting Sun along the canyons of our narrow streets.
Arrive a half-hour earlier than the times given below.
MAY
Half Sun on grid: Thursday, May 29 — 8:17 p.m. EDT
Full Sun on grid: Friday, May 30 — 8:16 p.m. EDT
JULY
Half Sun on grid: Saturday, July 12 — 8:25 p.m. EDT
Full Sun on grid: Friday, July 11 — 8:24 p.m. EDT
http://research.amnh.org/users/tyson/ManhattanSunset.php
From the press release:
“New York, New York, New York is an interactive, multimedia installation. It is a continuation of Flux Factory’s interest in urban landscapes and takes inspiration from the Panorama, Robert Moses’ scale model of New York City in the Queens Museum of Art. Members of the Flux Factory art collective will work in collaboration with over 100 artists from all five boroughs and around the world to re-imagine the public and private spaces of New York.
Each artist will contribute a building, a landmark, a street, an avenue, a block, a park, a neighborhood, an expressway, a bridge, an island, an airport—one or several elements of the urban environment. All of these individual works will be combined to produce a cohesive yet chaotic installation, a multimedia, scale-model of the city. Instead of being an exact replica to scale of the city of New York, this project offers a mental map, a replica of an imaginary New York. The goal of the show is to explore the architectural and conceptual elements of everyday space. It is an investigation into the collective unconscious of the cultural capital of the planet: The sum of all of New York’s potential exposed in a great experiment in psychogeography.”
LIC Sundial model installed in Queens-panorama-area…and other installation views around NYNYNY:
After Tomorrow – in the lower Manhattan financial district by Momoyo Torimitsu
Cretaceous under Brooklyn (note to self to find artist name and piece title)
The Brooklyn Bridge with the Brooklyn Bridge
The path of the New York City Marathon passes through the Long Island City Sundial at about miles 14 and 15, just before the Queensborough Bridge.
Leading men approach the LIC sundial gnomon.
Leading women, Paula Radcliffe and Gete Wami, emerge from the sundial shadow as the pass the gnomon.
On the equinox, the path of the tip of a sundial shadow is a straight line. Monumental sundials are sometimes positioned such that this line points to key landscape features–in the Augustus Sundial in Rome (previous post here), the obelisk-gnomon was positioned so that on the equinox this line intersected Augustus’s mausoleum.
The Long Island City Sundial is positioned such that this equinox line intersects the United Nations, across the river in Manhattan, at about 8:00am.
Today’s sundial self-guided walking tour map from MeatSpace Gallery to the gnomon is downloadable here as a PDF–it is applicable for days other than the 15th.
Sunset at the LIC Sundial during Manhattanhenge (see July 6 post). Left image looking West, sun sets directly behind gnomon, right image looking East, sunset reflected off of sundial.
Twice a year, in May and July, the sunset can be seen directly across Manhattan, down the middle of any crosstown street. This year the dates are May 30th and July 13–one week from today (although the general phenomena can be seen one or two days on either side).
The LIC Sundial’s gnomon is positioned directly across from 53rd street (as pictured here in June 25th post), which could set up some interesting eclipse-esque action next week. Here’s a diagram:
Hayden Planetarium’s description, post on BLDG/BLOG, flckr photos tagged ‘manhattanhenge.’
Reception for exhibition of LIC Sundial project drawings at the MeatSpace Gallery on July 21, the Summer Solstice–exhibition open through July 20 by appointment, phone 718 433-4990 or email hn (at) heidineilson (dot) com. Introductory Sundial Walking Tour scheduled for Sunday, July 15th at 2pm, starting at the gallery.
