MIT Building 7 entrance, 77 Mass Ave.
Looking toward the sunset from 77 Mass Ave.
Building 7 lobby.
Sunset through the 77 Mass Ave. window.
The sun shining down the Infinite Corridor.
A much more dramatic picture.
Friday, Jan. 18th: 9 days early. I was down at MIT this afternoon so I decided to stay until sunset and try out a new Canon SX-40 camera. The sun set somewhat south of where it will be during the alignment. Pictures
Sunday, Jan. 27th: This was the first day that was predicted to have the sun crossing the window, although at the bottom left-hand corner. Since nobody else was there and it didn't look completely promising, I observed right from the railing at Lobby 7 rather than going down the hallway. I mounted the Canon SX-40 right on the railing and took a 12 mminute video. At first, as the sun cleared the column to the left of the window, sunlight started to advance down the north wall of the hallway. Then it seemed to just fade away. I don't know if this was because the sun had actually set behind the buildings and hills on the horizon or if there were some clouds out there. It did seem like there might have been some clouds. This happened a few minutes before the predicted sunset. The result was that nothing much was seen today. Pictures
Monday, Jan. 28th: Cloudy with snow.
Tuesday, Jan. 29th: Cloudy. I wonder how they feel at Stonehenge when it's cloudy on the summer solstice.
Wednesday, Jan. 30th: Warm and cloudy with drizzle.
Thursday, Jan. 31st: Rainy in the morning, clearing nicely during the day and then just enough clouds at sunset so prevent us from seeing anything. Pictures
Friday, Feb. 1st: Thick cloud at sunset. Pictures
Saturday, Feb. 2nd: Cloudy.
Note: There is a moon crossing on Sunday, Feb. 3rd about 10:30 AM in the morning. The moon will be at last quarter phase.
Sunday Morning, Feb. 3rd: Guess what? Cloudy and snowflakes!
Saturday, March 23rd: Stopped by MIT to look at the windows again, trying to see just how much sky you can actually see. Look at the three vent stacks on the building in the distance and you can see that you can't see much sky above them. The field of view is very small. Pictures
Sunday, April 7th: John Sheff reports a sunset alignment with Cambridge St. in Cambridge. It also happens around Sept. 4-5. And also an alignment with Broadway around May 17-19. The Feb. 3rd Boston Globe article also mentions these alignments.
----------
See what the Clear Sky Clock says
Slice of MIT 1/28/2013 - How Building 7 got built.
The Feb. 3rd Boston Sunday Globe had an article that mentions MIT Henge and other solar alignments in Boston and Cambridge. Here is the MAP. The whole article as .pdf (2.9Mb) is HERE.
The Washington Post had an article about Manhattan Henge on May 30, 2012. HERE.
Various web sites can generate a sun path diagram. Here is a diagram that shows where along the horizon are the sunrise and sunset points during the year. HERE. This chart was generated HERE
An interesting app that uses Google Maps to show the direction to the sun is HERE.
Saturday, Nov. 3rd: I went down to MIT to photograph the Lobby 7 windows from different distances down the hallway, from the Lobby 7 railing all the way down to the far end. The pictures are Here
Using the pictures of the windows from various distances and a picture of the sun through some clouds, I put together this page showing how the size of the sun compares to the size of the window ar various locations down the hallway. The doorway at the west end of the 3rd floor hallway is only 54 inches wide, so from the far eastern end of the hallway, the doorway is smaller than the width of the sun. Pictures
Sunday, Nov. 4th: Since it looked like it would be clear, I went down to MIT for the sunset even though it is 6 days before the predicted best date. The sun was higher than it will be next weekend and didn't shine all the way down the 3rd floor hallway, but the effect is close to what it will look like next Saturday. Pictures are: Here
Friday, Nov. 9th: Nobody was there since it wasn't a predicted day, but the alignment was good. Pictures
Saturday, Nov. 10th: Pictures
Sunday, Nov. 11th: We didn't see much today. The sun started to shine down the right side of the hallway, then seemed to stop. We don't know if it went behind a cloud or the predictions were off. We need a spotter or camera outside to tell us what's going on. Pictures are: Here
Monday, Nov. 12th: Cloudy. Pictures
A video that I found on YouTube.
A video from MIT by Dan Falk. It's a good explanation of the event.
An article about Manhattanhenge at MSNBC.
The Wikipedia article on Manhattanhenge
Slice of MIT 1/27/2012 - Celebrate MIThenge
Pictures from January 29, 2012.
Boston Globe article from 11/12/2011 As PDF
Slice of MIT 6/30/2011 - How MIThenge Got Its Start
A short video from MIT Multimedia
The Sky & Telescope web article of January 27, 2011 As PDF
Full Sky & Tel article from November 2003 (PDF)
When I first started researching MIT Henge, I was frustrated by having to search for the information in different places. So I decided to centralize everything that I found in one place, this web page. After building the page in 2007, I realized that I didn't have any pictures of the outside of the building or of the horizon where the sun was setting. I have tried to add those pictures now, in January of 2011.
Twice a year, the sun aligns with the Infinite Corridor at MIT at sunset. Since the orientation of MIT does not line up with the winter or summer solstice, there are two dates during the year that this happens, around January 30 and November 11. By coincidence, these dates are near the Cross Quarter days of Samhain and Imbolc (Groundhog Day). As a side note, for Boston, Groundhog Day is the first day on which the sun has not set by 5:00 PM, so it is still daytime at the end of the work day.
The best technical details are here: This paper by Alan Eliasen
Other information is here:
The MIT Planning Office web page
The complete prediction table by Ken Olum
Stuart Goldmans 2003 article from Sky & Telescope (pdf)
A November 2005 email from Alan Eliasen
Wikipedia article about the Infinite Corridor
What does the planetarium program XEphem say about where the sun is? Note that the lat-lon is generic Cambridge.
At 16:20:10 PM on 11/11/07 xephem gives the following values using the coordinates 42:22:01, 71:06:22, elevation 6.1 meters, temp 10.0 C, pressure 1010 mB.
RA 15:06:09.27, Dec -17:28:11.0, Az 245:44:33, Alt 0:41:09, rise 06:29, set 16:27
For some information on atmospheric refraction, see: this web page
For information on safe solar observing, see:
Fred Espenaks solar eclipse web site at NASA.
Scroll down to the section on "Safe Eclipse Viewing and Photography".
A couple of other interesting places with solar alignments are: Newgrange and Karnak
If your interest in MIT Henge extends to sundials, investigate the North American Sundial Society or the Sundial mailing list
Will it be clear? Look at the Clear Sky Clock.
Sunrise and sunset from Time and Date . com
Sunrise, sunset and sunpath from GAISMA
Sun and moon data from The U.S. Naval Observatory
> Dick, > > How about creating a charter for the MITHenge Society? Here's a draft > to spur you on: > > > The MITHenge Society (MITHS) is dedicated to the betterment of > mankind through a deeper understanding of the MITHenge phenomenon. > > Documentation > - Measure the azimuth of the Infinite corridor > - Measure the elevation to the horizon > > Theoretical > - Examine the effect of atmospheric refraction > > Publication > - Videos of sun moving by > - Web page to contain above > - Real-time video of the next event on the Web > > Preservation > - Work with MIT and the City of Cambridge to maintain a clear view of > the horizon > > Social > - Examine the causes that lead technically minded persons to find > this phenomenon fascinating > >
