What is Manhattanhenge and how does it occur?

Manhattanhenge is when the sun lines up perfectly with the streets of New York City, making it look like the city has its own sunrise or sunset in the middle of the day.

Imagine you're playing with building blocks, each block represents a street. Now picture the sun as a big yellow ball that moves across the sky. On special days, the sun lines up exactly with these blocks, so when you look down the streets, it looks like the sun is setting or rising right in front of the buildings.

Every year, on certain dates, usually around May and July, the sun’s path matches the grid of New York City. This happens because Earth takes a whole year to go around the Sun, and as we move, the angle of the sunlight changes.

It's like when you're sitting in your classroom and the light from the window hits the floor just right, that’s a little Manhattanhenge in your room!

People love watching Manhattanhenge because it feels like the city is alive, with the sun dancing along the streets. You can even take pictures of it, and it looks like you're standing between two giant mirrors reflecting the sky, but instead of mirrors, you have buildings!