Where is the best place to view Manhattanhenge? Instagram posts reveal which places get crowded, and where the best pictures may be taken.

IN 1808 JOHN RANDEL JUNIOR, New York City’s 20-year-old chief surveyor, was asked to design and develop the island of Manhattan, from what is now Houston Street, near its southern tip, to 155th Street, eight miles north. More than two centuries on, Randel’s grid is celebrated by locals and tourists alike—never more so than when the parallel streets running west to east between the Hudson and East Rivers line up perfectly with the setting sun. This phenomenon, which occurs twice a year, on May 29th-30th and July 12th-13th, was dubbed “Manhattanhenge” by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, in 2002. Viewing the sun descending like a globe of fire between the Big Apple’s skyscrapers into neighbouring New Jersey has since become a biannual event for aspiring photographers.