Latest news with #NeilDeGrasseTyson
ABC News
2 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
Crowds spill onto New York streets and block traffic to catch glimpse of 'Manhattanhenge' sunset
Crowds have spilled onto the streets of New York to catch a glimpse of a beloved phenomenon that bathes Manhattan streets in orange twice a year. "Manhattanhenge" occurs when the Sun perfectly aligns with the borough's street grid and sinks below the horizon, framed by a canyon of skyscrapers. Sidewalks and parks were packed to watch the unique sunset on Thursday, local time, which occurs on a handful of spring and summer evenings. The first Manhattanhenge of the year took place on Wednesday evening, but was repeated again on Thursday. Thursday's sunset was briefly visible, but mostly blocked by clouds. It will occur again on July 11 and 12. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in an article published in the National History magazine in 1997. The future television host was part of an expedition led by Gerald Hawkins, the scientist who first theorised that Stonehenge was constructed as an ancient astronomical observatory. It struck Dr Tyson, who is a New York local, that the biannual sunset alignment that occurs in Manhattan could be compared to the Sun's rays striking the centre of the Stonehenge circle on the summer solstice. The summer solstice is an annual event that refers to when a hemisphere experiences its longest stretch of daylight over a 24-hour period. Manhattanhenge doesn't take place on the summer solstice itself, though. The two events are separated by about three weeks before and after the solstice. AP
Fast Company
3 days ago
- General
- Fast Company
Manhattanhenge 2025: Here's how to see the city skyline frame the sun
Twice a 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 event is a favorite of photographers and often brings people out onto sidewalks on spring and summer evenings to watch this unique sunset. The first Manhattanhenge of the year takes place Wednesday at 8:13 p.m., with a slight variation happening again Thursday at 8:12 p.m. It will occur again on July 11 and 12. Where does the name Manhattanhenge come from? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article in the magazine Natural History. Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York's American Museum of Natural History, said he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager. The future host of TV shows such as PBS's Nova ScienceNow was part of an expedition led by Gerald Hawkins, the scientist who first theorized that Stonehenge's mysterious megaliths were an ancient astronomical observatory. It struck Tyson, a native New Yorker, that the setting sun framed by Manhattan's high-rises could be compared to the sun's rays striking the center of the Stonehenge circle on the solstice. Unlike the Neolithic Stonehenge builders, the planners who laid out Manhattan did not mean to channel the sun. It just worked out that way. When is Manhattanhenge? Manhattanhenge does not take place on the summer solstice itself, which is June 20 this year. Instead, it happens about three weeks before and after the solstice. That's when the sun aligns itself perfectly with the Manhattan grid's east-west streets. Viewers get two different versions of the phenomenon to choose from. On May 28 and July 12, half the sun will be above the horizon and half below it at the moment of alignment with Manhattan's streets, according to the Hayden Planetarium. On May 29 and July 11, the whole sun will appear to hover between buildings just before sinking into the New Jersey horizon across the Hudson River. Where can you see Manhattanhenge? The traditional viewing spots are along the city's broad east-west thoroughfares: 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street, and 57th Street. The farther east you go, the more dramatic the vista as the sun's rays hit building facades on either side. It is also possible to see Manhattanhenge across the East River in the Long Island City section of Queens. Is Manhattanhenge an organized event? Manhattanhenge viewing parties are not unknown, but it is mostly a DIY affair. People gather on east-west streets a half-hour or so before sunset and snap photo after photo as dusk approaches. That's if the weather is fine. There's no visible Manhattanhenge on rainy or cloudy days, and both are unfortunately in the forecast this week. Do other cities have 'henges'? Similar effects occur in other cities with uniform street grids. Chicagohenge and Baltimorehenge happen when the setting sun lines up with the grid systems in those cities in March and September, around the spring and fall equinoxes. Torontohenge occurs in February and October.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Unity Environmental University celebrates largest graduating class ever with Neil deGrasse Tyson
May 21—NEW GLOUCESTER — Once a small college struggling with declining enrollment, Unity Environmental University is bringing in astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson as its commencement speaker to help graduate its largest-ever class this Friday. The president of Unity Environmental University, formerly Unity College, says the school has evolved in response to the challenges of higher education and its 10,000-person student body is now mostly online. "Our purpose at Unity is to offer quality environmental science and sustainability-based degrees, for everything from traditional students to working adults, so they can make an impact where they are," President Melik Peter Khoury said in an interview Wednesday at the school's new campus at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. "But anything else is basically a construct." Unity is now the second-largest university in the state based on enrollment, behind only the flagship public University of Maine with 12,000 students as of this fall. On Friday, more than 1,000 students will graduate with bachelor's and master's degrees in environmental fields; about 200 are expected to walk in-person at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, joined by more than 1,000 guests. Tyson, the famed astrophysicist and science communicator, is just the latest in a line of notable commencement speakers: Khoury said primatologist Jane Goodall and the zookeeper TV star Steve Irwin have both given the address in the past. "With this invitation from Unity Environmental University, I am reminded that some institutions of higher learning have taken the shepherding of our precious Earth seriously enough to embed it into everything they preach and everything they teach," Tyson said in an announcement from the university. TRANCENDING TRADITION More than a decade ago, Khoury said, Unity's board of trustees took a look at the college's problem of declining enrollment, which was below 600 students in 2012. Their conclusion was that environmental science degrees were in demand, but often too expensive or exclusive for most of the students interested in them. "I was brought in to try to figure out, how do we transform the institution to really become a little bit more accessible," Khoury said. "So our mission transcends tradition." The school began experimenting in 2016 with institutional changes, like adding hybrid programs and graduate degrees. Then, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Khoury said, the university made the decision to close its residential undergraduate college in 2020. The school relocated administrative operations to Pineland Farms, where it offers in-person classes to about 200 students, and put its 225-acre campus in Unity up for sale in 2023. The institution changed its name that same year. Now, the vast majority of students, 800 graduate students and 9,200 undergrads, complete their degrees online. Rather than studying in semesters, the academic year is divided into eight terms, which Khoury said helps with retention and graduation rates, because students don't fall far behind when they need to take time off. Angelica De Hoyos and Javier Montanez, a married couple from southern New Jersey, are both graduating with a master's of professional science in environmental geographic information science on Friday. De Hoyos is a surveyor with the Army Corp of Engineers, and Montanez is a supervisor at the Atlantic City International Airport who got his bachelor's degree at Unity. They also have two kids, a 10-year-old and 6-year-old. When they decided to go to grad school, they said Unity's flexible and remote programs made sense. "With two full time jobs, barely having time to actually spend with the kids in the afternoon and evening, we decided that distance learning was the best fit for us," De Hoyos said. Montanez is hoping the degree will open the door to new professional opportunities that allow him to use his passion for the environment, and De Hoyos said she was motivated by her constant desire to learn and her industry's move toward using more GIS technology. She also wanted to show her kids that at any point in life, they can chase a new goal. When they drive eight hours to Maine to walk across the stage at Merrill Auditorium Friday, it will be their second time ever visiting the state. NON-TRADITIONAL CHANGES Khoury said Unity's transition hasn't been without difficulty and has involved trial and error. Many alumni and former faculty criticized the decision to eliminate the traditional campus. But while small residential environmental colleges like Green Mountain College in Vermont and Northland College in Wisconsin have shuttered in recent years, he said Unity has a graduating class this year that's larger than the school's entire population was when he first started in 2016. He believes American higher education is still stuck on a vision of college as an experience that involves four years of full-time commitment and living on campus. But he said that just doesn't match the reality of who wants degrees: often it's adult students with full-time jobs, sometimes with children. The average age of a current Unity student is 29. "Are we confounding an American coming-of-age experience with the need for for education?" Khoury said. "I think we need to uncouple those two, and we need to look at one for what it is, which is: How do we want to transition our young adults into adulthood? And then we need to look at the other one as: How do we get people educated, no matter where they are in life?" Copy the Story Link
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
America's most famous scientist sparks more rumors he's going MAGA after latest apparent shift to the right
Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, often outspoken for his liberal viewpoints, has continued to fuel speculation that he's veering right. In a Thursday X post, Dr Tyson showed off an image of his wife's bullet-riddled target paper from their trip to a shooting range in Nevada. On the surface, it would seem like a perfectly innocent post taking pride in his wife, Alice Young, after their day of target shooting. However, Tyson said Young had been a 'student member of the NRA,' also known as the National Rifle Association. The group has long been politically tied to Republicans and has maintained a strong friendship with President Donald Trump, who has been a fierce defender of the Second Amendment. That post comes less than two weeks after Tyson triggered a liberal meltdown on social media after posing with one of Trump's Make America Great Again hats. Tyson, an astrophysicist, writer, and media personality, has never openly supported President Trump and has often opposed conservatives on issues like transgender rights and climate change awareness. Despite that, some of Tyson's left-leaning fans on social media saw the seemingly pro-gun tweet as another sign the 66-year-old is shifting to the right. 'Thought Dems were against guns Neil?' one person commented on the post. 'Americans and their guns,' another person lamented with an eye-rolling emoji. In the post, Tyson noted that his wife is from Alaska, a solidly Republican state, which led some X users to assume the couple were in a politically-mixed marriage. However, the vast majority of comments simply praised Young's performance, repeatedly shooting the center of the target from 21 feet away with a CZ Shadow 2 9-millimeter handgun. While Tyson received plenty of encouragement from gun supporters online, the popular scientist actually has a long history of opposing guns and gun violence. 'Some claim the USA is a Christian nation, compelling me to wonder which assault rifle Jesus would choose: the AR-15 or AK-47,' Tyson tweeted in September of 2014. 'Odd how many Americans invoke the 2nd Amendment to justify gun ownership, rather than explore whether or not it's a good idea,' he added in June 2016. Despite Tyson's past criticism of the Second Amendment, America's right to bear arms actually contributed to the scientist's day of fun at the Nevada shooting range. On April 28, Neil deGrasse Tyson posted an image of himself holding 4 red hats, including a MAGA hat worn by supporters of President Trump The Second Amendment indirectly protects shooting ranges by affirming the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes. Two Supreme Court cases, District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen in 2022, further extended this right to support firearms training and recreational shooting. Along with Tyson's MAGA-promoting tweet in April, the scientist added a 48-hour poll, asking his social media fans to help him choose which of four hats he should wear. Along with the MAGA hat, Tyson also held up three hats that said 'Make America Smart Again,' 'Make Lying Wrong Again,' and 'Relax It's Just A Red Hat.' Make Lying Wrong Again won with over 32 percent of the vote. Trump's Make America Great Again slogan received the least support at just 18.8 percent. 'While we can surely agree we want to Make America Great. To achieve that goal, looks like we need to Make America Smart. But first, we need to Make Lying Wrong Again,' Tyson tweeted about the results. His comments received even more backlash from liberals on social media, claiming that the astrophysicist should avoid talking about political issues altogether. 'Why are you getting into politics? Stay in your lane, which is deteriorating,' one person wrote on X. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, a position he has held since 1996. He has authored numerous books, including The Pluto Files in 2009 and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry in 2017, which popularized complex scientific concepts. Tyson has been a prominent science communicator, gaining widespread fame through media appearances and hosting various educational programs devoted to space. He current co-hosts the podcast StarTalk, blending science with pop culture. Although he continues to share seemingly liberal stances on many issues, including immigration and the Trump Administration's cuts to science funding, Tyson has remained generally nonpartisan throughout his professional career. He served on Republican President George W Bush's aerospace commission, as well as the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy (the 'Moon, Mars, and Beyond' initiative), advising on NASA's strategic direction in 2004. Dr Tyson has also recently tweeted about his support of Elon Musk's goal of reaching Mars and about his new friendship with podcast host Joe Rogan. Both Musk and Rogan provided influential support during President Trump successful 2024 campaign.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Here are 10 photos taken by Hubble Space Telescope after 35 years in orbit above Earth
It's not often that telescopes suspended in space have landmark birthdays like this one. Launched on April 24, 1990, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has orbited at about 320 miles above Earth's surface, according to the space agency's website. The telescope journeyed into space attached to the space shuttle Discovery. Nicknamed 'the People's Telescope,' Hubble has made over 1.6 million observations of celestial objects since it was sent into space. NASA even offers the opportunity for people to access what photos Hubble took on their birthdays, given that the telescope 'explores the universe 24 hours a day, seven days a week,' NASA stated The telescope was named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, who studied the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy using the Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles in 1923, according to the observatory's website. Hubble's observations led to new theories on the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang, including what's referred to as Hubble's Constant. The telescope has taken a wide variety of photos documenting celestial bodies, from Earth's neighboring planets like Mars to faraway nebulae trapped in space and time, like the Horsehead and Crab nebulae. This also includes the iconic orange and blue Helix Nebula, which was later edited to resemble the human eye and featured in the title card for the 2014 series 'Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,' hosted by astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. NASA will continue to celebrate the telescope's 'birthday' as it plans to release new images, videos, educational materials, interactive web apps, and more, according to a statement. 'From planets in our own solar system to galaxies billions of light-years away, Hubble's iconic images remain a scientific and cultural asset for the whole world,' NASA stated. Why won't you be able to see the closest supermoon of 2025? This newly found green comet may not have survived its trek past the sun Here's what a Beatles song and a fossil have to do with a NASA mission to study asteroids 4 planets align in early-morning sky: How and where to spot them Could Mass. see the northern lights in the night sky on Wednesday? Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive.
