To a bright future
Twice a year the setting sun lines up with the Manhattan street grid creating a beautiful view of light between skyscrapers. People literally stand in the middle of busy streets to take photos of this solar event. What kind of crazy person would be stupid enough to do that? This kind of crazy person. That’s how I took the photo above. Sure the drivers hate it, but it was worth it. They’re enjoying the view too. I always find it so inspiring, like you’re being led forward, being guided by the sky like a navigator on a ship hundreds of years ago.
The famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has dubbed this phenomenon Manhattanhenge, comparing it to the ancient circle of vertical rocks in England, Stonehenge, for how they too line up with the sun. A native New Yorker, Tyson grew up in the Bronx and is head of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History here in New York City. He wrote a great article about Manhattanhenge for the museum’s website and it’s definitely worth a read.
I’m a big fan of his podcast, Star Talk. I often listen to it and attempt to grasp the intricacies of astrophysics he discusses. It has a way of making me feel incredibly smart and incredibly stupid at the same time and I love it, I guess just because I love learning. One night I went to a live taping of the podcast at a theater in Brooklyn. I really wanted to meet Dr. Tyson. So after the show I waited outside by the stage door in the harsh, blistering cold. I kept waiting and waiting. Getting colder and colder. Snot kept running down my face and I kept wiping it away. I couldn’t stop it. I started to wonder if I was at the wrong door. Could there be another door? I walked around there wasn’t really any other stage door. I began to think maybe I’d missed him. My fingers were felt like they were being squeezed in a vise. I said to myself “Just ten more minutes” then “Just ten minutes more” , then “Ok, finally this has got to be the last ten minutes. I’m gonna get sick out here.”
I passed the time reading one of his books that I had brought to be signed. It was getting late. I was about to go home when suddenly he emerged from the stage door! I shyly went up to him and said “Dr. Tyson? Would you mind signing this, please?” He smiled warmly and said certainly. I was fumbling for my pen, but he had his own. A very fancy pen with purple ink and he signed his name in beautiful calligraphy. Then I asked if he wouldn’t mind taking a photo. And again he said yes. Truth be told I had actually brought two books to be signed. He signed both and above his signature in one of the books he wrote the phrase he ends every podcast with: Keep looking up!
Me and Neil deGrasse Tyson (He’s on the right)