Golden Apple: The 'Manhattanhenge' effect bathes 34th Street in mesmerising sunlight

With the iconic Empire State Building in view the phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge illuminated New York's 34th Street with spectacular results.

Similar to the prehistoric solstice sunsets at Stonehenge on Salisbury plains, Wiltshire, Manhattanhenge occurs twice a year.

For 15 minutes, the sun sets down the enormous grid system of the Big Apple's financial heart mesmerising passers by.

Bathing the famous 34th Street with glowing light, the sun downs itself in a bright orange globe into the Hudson River.

'It was beautiful, I wasn't aware that this happened in New York,' said Terrence Reid, 42, a tourist from the UK over for the weekend.

'It caught me unaware as I was crossing up Manhattan and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.'

The term Manhattanhenge was created in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History.

It refers to the streets of Manhattan that follow the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 which laid out a grid that is offset 28.9 degrees from true east-west.

Had the grid been set directly on the east-west line, the phenomenon would coincide with the spring and autumn equinoxes, just like Stonehenge

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