Welcome back to the Brian Laird show here on WNYC.

I'm David First, WNYC's weekend edition host, filling in for Brian today.

And we wrap up this summer Friday show with a look at an astronomical event coming to our area later tonight. Have you heard of Manhattan Henge? It is the moment when you're in New York City on a summer evening and the sun is setting at just the right angle and suddenly it kisses the grid.

Joining us to explain more and to give us the scoop on all things Manhattan Henge is Jackie Faradie,

the astronomer and educator at the American Museum of Natural History.

And tonight she is hosting a lecture and a block party that I believe is happening rain

or shine at the museum in honor of the phenomenon. Welcome.

I am so excited to be here and it is rain or shine. I hope it doesn't rain. So I'm hoping for

the shine. We hope it. We're hoping for the shine. So tell us exactly what is Manhattan Henge.

Can you give us the astronomical explanation for this event?

Yes.

Okay.

So most people have watched a sunset in their lives at some point.

But, you know, everybody's busy, and so you're not necessarily watching it every single day.

So something you may not have appreciated or noticed is that the sun, when it's set

every day, it's actually at a different point on your horizon. It moves north and south like a ping pong

when it's rising in the east, setting in the west. Now that's because the earth is tilted by 23 and a half degrees

relative to how it's moving around the sun.

Okay, so that's the big science part.

And so throughout the year, the sun will be in a different position.

On the days of Manhattan Henge, it's a nice coincidence

the way the shape of Manhattan is that we have a bull's-eye

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