It is dubbed “Manhattanhenge” and happens semiannually when the sun aligns at dusk with streets in a glowing magic trick as rays of sunlight span across New York perfectly, from west to east.
“Manhattanhenge may just be a unique urban phenomenon in the world,” says astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, of the American Museum of Natural History, who officially discovered the phenomenon.
The name “Manhattanhenge” is a play on Manhattan, this city’s most famous borough, and Stonehenge, the megalithic monument in southern England with large stone blocks set out in concentric circles.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
At Stonehenge, the sun crosses the site’s central axis during the summer and winter solstices, leading experts to speculate that the site could have been used as a sort of sun calendar, as well as for religious ceremonies.
But in Manhattan, the phenomenon takes place before and after the summer solstices when at dusk but before sunset, the sun neatly matches up with the even-numbered streets running west and east, sending out fingers of light.
“As a kid I visited Stonehenge in the Salisbury Plain of England and did research on other stone monuments across the British Isles,” deGrasse Tyson told AFP.
“So I was, in a way, imprinted by the emotional power that terrestrial alignments with the sun can have on a culture or civilization.”
“Any city crossed by a rectangular grid can identify days where the setting sun aligns with their streets. But a closer look at such cities around the world shows them to be less than ideal for this purpose,” he stressed.
DeGrasse Tyson first started thinking about the “Manhattanhenge” effect back in 1996. It was not until five years later, July 2001, that he took a photo of the sun-meets-skyscrapers display.
It and others were published in 2002 in a special edition of Natural History Magazine called “City of Stars,” he said. And the effect began to become better known.
(AFP）
被命名為「曼哈頓巨石陣」的現象，一年只出現兩次，這是太陽日落角度，與曼哈頓棋盤街道對齊，完美貫穿紐約街頭，放射絢麗奇幻光芒。
美國自然歷史博物館天體物理學家尼爾‧德格拉斯泰森說：「『曼哈頓巨石陣』可能只是世上一個特殊的都會現象。」德格拉斯泰森也是此現象的正式發現者。
在紐約最負盛名的曼哈頓區內，「曼哈頓巨石陣」是該區上演的一齣劇。這名稱類似英國南部的巨石陣，這些巨石遺跡以同心圓排列。
太陽光在夏至與冬至正好穿越英國巨石陣的中心軸線，引起專家們做出預測，認為巨石陣可能被當作一種日曆與宗教儀式的用途。
但在曼哈頓，此現象發生於夏至前與後，日落前的黃昏，這個時間，太陽日落軌跡恰巧與紐約棋盤式東西向的偶數街道，不偏不倚地對齊，放射出指針般的光芒。
德格拉斯泰森告訴法新社說：「我小時候去過英國索爾斯堡平原的巨石陣，並對其他遍及不列顛群島的巨石遺跡做過研究。」
他說：「陸地與太陽軌道對齊的現象，從某方面來說，對於文明也扮演重要的角色，也就是這種撼動人心的力量，讓我銘記在心。」
他強調說：「只要有棋盤式道路的城市，太陽照射軌跡與街道對齊，就能得知今天是什麼日子。但細究世界上的這些城市會發現，這並非是個理想預測日子的方法。」
德格拉斯泰森早在一九九六年，首度想到「曼哈頓巨石陣」的現象。直到五年後，也就是二零零一年七月，他才用影像記錄太陽遇見摩天大樓的景象。
他說，這與其他標題為「星光之城」的攝影作品集，於二零零二年以特刊方式，刊載於《自然歷史雜誌》。自此之後，該效應更廣為人知。
（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）
A: The four-day Tomb Sweeping Day long weekend begins Friday and will run until Monday. Are you going to sweep your ancestors’ tombs? B: I did in advance last weekend, so I can go to Kaohsiung to see the musical “The Phantom of the Opera.” A: Wow, is “Phantom” touring Taiwan again? It debuted in 1986, so this year marks the 40th anniversary of the show. B: And it’s not just touring Kaohsiung starting March 31, but also Taipei starting April 21 and Taichung starting May 26. A: “Phantom” is one of the world’s Four Major Musicals. I’ve seen all of them, except “Les
A: Apart from the musical The Phantom of the Opera, off-Broadway classic “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” and musical-themed concert “Broadway Hits Live” are also touring Taiwan. B: Musical-themed concert? That sounds interesting. A: Set for April 18 and 19, the show will feature a group of Broadway vocalists and dancers — with British singer Keala Settle as a special guest. B: So the audience can enjoy all the timeless hits from various shows at one concert. . . I like that. A: And there’s more: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musical Jesus Christ Superstar will finally visit Taiwan for the first time
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Lucas was already on the ground before he fully understood what was happening. “Hurry! Kneel down!” someone shouted. The asphalt was warm against his knees. Around him, dozens of people lay flat in the narrow street outside Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia. Some pressed their hands together in prayer. Others closed their eyes. Lucas had only come to look at the temple. An hour earlier he had stepped into the noisy courtyard out of curiosity. Inside the main hall, people held incense sticks, bowed three times,
Visitors walking down the streets of London and other major English cities might notice a curious sight. Many of the old __1__ have some of their windows boarded up. What’s even stranger is that there doesn’t appear to be any consistent pattern as to which windows get covered. This architectural __2__ dates back over 300 years during a time when “coin clipping” was a common crime in England. Back then, silver coins had simple designs with __3__, unmarked edges. Without any pattern extending to the coins’ rims, it was difficult to tell if the edges had been __4__. This
RSS