Feeling a little solar powered today?
Officially the warmest Spring in New York City history ended this morning at 7:28 am. As sun worshipers gathered at Stonehenge to celebrate a Heel Stone sunrise, New Yorkers will need to wait until July 12th for the second Manhattanhenge sunset of the year.
I was hoping to get downtown and check the alignment on NYC's more modern sun sculpture at the McGraw-Hill Building today but something came up. Here's a photo of the Athelstan Spilhaus sculpture from the spring equinox, one of two times a year that the sun lines up with the longest rail of the triangle at solar noon.
The shortest bottom rail points to the sun's noon position on the winter solstice, an altitude of 26° is the lowest of noon suns. The steepest side pointed to the sun's position today, the highest altitude of 73° that made for an 88° sort of day.
I missed the Triangle this afternoon but I did document the sunset over the river on this night that the sun will be furthest up the river.
I would have posted the sunrise and sunset but you guys put my diary on the rec list late last night and who can sleep on the rec list? Here's a fun fact I learned from the sun triangle for late sleepers like myself. Solar noon is actually around one o'clock during daylight savings time, so when you sleep in you can always tell yourself there is another hour of morning. I did get a shot of the noonish sun on solstice.
Photos from my window must seem pretty dull by now so to make it a little more interesting I took a short road trip for the summer solstice. But first a little sun dancing on a sail boat in the late afternoon.
And just before I ran out the door.
How about a trip to the Cloisters? This is actually an Easter Sunday shot but I'm looking for a dramatic build up.
I better hustle, the sun looked high from my apartment but sun's sinking low at street level.
As I'm driving down a little worried about my carbon footprint driving three miles just for a sunset I play some good ecological tunes to balance things out. This is a "Where Do the Children Play" sunset. The view looked very promising when I get there.
This is sort of like extreme sun setting for me. With turf that is not as familiar as my living room window anything can go wrong. But now I get to stick and move. So I walk up to the site of Ft. Tryon where the Maryland and Virginia regiments fought off the Hessian troops on November 16, 1776. Where Margret Corbin was the first American woman to take a soldier's part in the war for liberty I saw this.
Then back to the Cloisters.
There I got a young couple to model for a few shots.
My views were improving already.
And I found a few unsuspecting models too.
The moon also came out to watch the summer solstice.
A view from the bridge.
Fort Tryon Park is so much higher than the river and the Henry Hudson Parkway that a very tall bridge was built with a steep hill below so drivers can visit the Cloisters from the parkway.
Then back up to the fort.
Where the sun was beginning to set and a dog seemed to be howling at the moon.
Some of the best views are the reflection of the late day sun on everything and everyone.
Walking through the garden and trying to find a balance between heather and sunset.
Then all the way down the hill to the George Washington Bridge view for sunset.
Back uphill for a second sunset at the fort.
And the afterglow before leaving.
Finally home in time for last light.
Not a bad way to spend a long day. According to my New York City sunset calendar tonight's sunset was at 8:30pm. Surprisingly it is not the latest sunset of the year and there are several day this week that seemed tied for longest.
I guess it takes a while to turn that big ship around. I'm just kidding I know it is us that are making the move but from my vantage point it looks like the sun will be swinging to the left from this point forward.
Happy Solstice.