Twice per year, New Yorkers and visitors are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers. The first Manhattanhenge of the year takes place at sunset on Wednesday, with a slight variation happening again Thursday. It will occur again on July 11 and 12. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article. Tyson has said that he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager. Manhattanhenge happens about three weeks before and after the summer solstice.