When the sun lines up with the streets: City henges

Next anywhere · sunrise

Portlandhenge

Nov 1–3: today, up Southwest Taylor Street at 6:53 am

23 cities with a henge4 without

The year of henges

Each city’s windows over the next twelve months, the soonest first

CityNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctPortlandhengeNov 1–3BostonhengeNov 1–3MelbournehengeNov 3–5AustinhengeNov 4–6TurinhengeNov 16–18MannheimhengeNov 20–22SeattlehengeNov 25–29MinneapolishengeNov 29 – Dec 3ManhattanhengeDec 2–7TorontohengeFeb 15–16SapporohengeFeb 27–28CaliforniahengeFeb 28 – Mar 1PhiladelphiahengeMar 1–2Buenos Aires hengeMar 11–12BaltimorehengeMar 12–14AdelaidehengeMar 13–15CalgaryhengeMar 15–16ChicagohengeMar 17–18KyotohengeMar 18–20Salt Lake hengeMar 19–20PhoenixhengeMar 19–20D.C. hengeMar 18–20MontrealhengeJun 5–14

Cities whose streets never frame the sun

Los Angeles · Denver · Vancouver · Barcelona

Their grids run too far off east–west: the sun’s rising and setting points never swing that far round.

What is a city henge?

Twice a year in Manhattan the setting sun lines up with the cross streets and fills them with light: Manhattanhenge, named after Stonehenge, whose stones frame the solstice sun. Any city laid out on a grid gets its own, on dates set by which way its streets run. A grid turned close to east–west gets them near the equinoxes, as Chicago does; one turned further, like Manhattan’s, gets them closer to midsummer.

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