The Manhattan solstice: New York's stunning light show

Twice a year the sun aligns to bathe the city that never sleeps in glowing light.

The sun begins to set over New York City, creating the bi-annual phenomenon of 'Manhattanhenge'

As the sun sets over the American city on these special days, streets on the Manhattan grid are illuminated in a way that has been compared to the solstice at Stonehenge.

Every single cross-street is tinged with orange sunlight for the last fifteen minutes of the day.

The term Manhattanhenge was coined in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.

It applies to those streets that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 which laid out a grid offset 28.9 degrees from true east-west.

The sky glows behind the Chrysler Building as New Yorkers stop to take pictures of the magnificent view

Had they been set directly on the east-west line, the phenomenon would coincide with the spring and autumn equinoxes.

As the sun sets behind the Chrysler Building in New York City it gives the Art Deco skyscraper a golden glow.

The word solstice translates from the Latin word solstitium, which means "stopped sun".

It refers to the winter and summer solstices when the sun reaches its most extreme southern and northern points.

The sun lights up every street on the Manhattan grid system