Chicago shutterbugs get your lenses ready, Chicagohenge is upon us.
The phenomenon occurs twice a year during the fall and spring equinoxes, according to the Chicago Tribune. The grid system the city is based on allows for spectacularly composed views of the rising and setting sun.
The master educator for the Adler Planetarium, Michelle Nichols, told the Tribune that those hoping to bear witness are best served looking west shortly before sunset, or around 6:40 p.m., between now and Sept. 30.
The highly-anticipated solar occurrence will return on March 20 if you miss it this year.
“During the spring and fall equinoxes, the sun shines equally on both hemispheres, and rises and sets directly to the east and west,” the paper reports. “Since Chicago's street grid corresponds almost exactly with the points of the compass, the rising and setting equinox sun aligns with the street grid, framing I between the city's buildings.”
The extraordinary sight isn't just unique to Chicago. Acclaimed scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote about Manhattanhenge for the American Museum of Natural History.
"For these two days, as the sun sets on the grid, half the disk sits above and half below the horizon," he wrote. "My personal preference for photographs. But the day after also offers Manhattanhenge moments, but at sunset, you instead will find the entire ball of the sun on the horizon."
The name is a nod to the iconic and prehistoric Stonehenge in England.
