Last Manhattanhenge of 2022 comes to New York City

Event takes its name from historical UK site Stonehenge, where the sun rises and sets perfectly in between stones during the winter and summer solstices

People take pictures as the sun sets over Manhattan on 42nd Street during Manhattanhenge in New York on Memorial Day 2022. AFP

People gather to take pictures of Manhattanhenge in Times Square. AFP

Manhattanhenge is an event in which the sunset or sunrise is aligned on the east-west grid of the main streets in Manhattan. AFP

People take pictures on 42nd Street in Manhattan. AFP

A person takes a picture as the sun sets behind buildings on 57th Street during Manhattanhenge. EPA

People gather on a city crosswalk along 57th Street during Manhattanhenge. EPA

A woman takes a picture on her mobile phone on 57th Street during Manhattanhenge. EPA

People gather along West 57th Street to take photos of Manhattanhenge. EPA

Viewers gather to watch and photograph Manhattanhenge from a bridge in New York City in 2021. Reuters

The sunset aligns with 42nd Street at Times Square in New York City in 2021. AFP

People view a 2020 Manhattanhenge sunrise along 42nd Street in the Manhattan borough from New Jersey. AP

It's back! Manhattanhenge, a natural phenomenon in which the sun lines up with the New York City borough's street grid when it sets for the evening, returned on Monday to the delight of residents and tourists alike.

Both locals and out-of-towners gather in droves on pavements and pedestrian crossings to take photos of the moment the sun filters through the many skyscrapers, perfectly aligning with the street.

Manhattanhenge takes its name from Stonehenge, the historical site in the UK where the sun rises and sets perfectly in between the stones during the winter and summer solstices.

New Yorker and well-known astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson created the phrase in 1997.

“So, Manhattanhenge may just be a unique urban phenomenon in the world, if not the universe,” he wrote in an article that year.

The phenomenon is visible from the east side of the Manhattan borough, looking westward. It is also visible at sunrise if people are looking eastward.

After Monday, it will happen again on Tuesday, though the sun will not be perfectly aligned.

This is the last time the phenomenon will come to the city borough this year until it returns next spring. It often occurs twice in the spring and twice in the summer.