At Stonehenge in England the Sun rises on the Spring Equinox so that it can be seen between a certain set of stones – that’s how they know that it’s some sort of ancient astronomical observatory. In Manhattan, with streets laid out east-west, there are two times a year when the setting Sun shines straight down the street and illuminates the steel and concrete canyons of the skyscrapers. They refer to that as “ManhattanHenge.”
Which brings us to what I’m going to refer to as “ForeverHomeHenge.” Last August 29th I posted about how the setting Sun had lined up to shine directly through the security peephole in the front door, like a laser beam. Seeing as how the Sun moves in a predictable way, I figured there would come a second day about now when it happened again. I got a glimpse of something going on about three days ago when I just happened to open the front door at the exact correct moment, and then the last couple of days have been cloudy around sunset.
Today was perfect.
Like a laser! And when you open the front door, facing due west, with a long hallway leading past my office, the library, the dining room, and into the kitchen and living room and out toward the back yard:
Perfect alignment. But wait, there’s more! Directly above my head from this point is a large, crystal chandelier in the foyer. Now, outside the Sun is setting and will go down behind the roof of the neighbor’s house across the street. As that happens and the Sun sinks toward the horizon, that top line of direct sunlight (seen on the wall next to the closet) is climbing. Will the direct rays of sunlight get to the chandelier before the neighbor’s roof or my front doorway frame start blocking them?
Why, yes! Yes they will!
The sunlight only hit the bottom handful of crystals – I can only imagine what it would look like if the chandelier were two feet lower and the entire thing got lit up.
Nice spectrums! Not enough definition or detail to see spectra, but the colors were INTENSE!
There were rainbows all the way down the hallway – and then the Sun set behind the neighbor’s roof and the display was gone.
It might work again tomorrow or maybe even a couple days, and then I’ll be waiting again for the next window of opportunity, in late August.
So cool!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 