Daywatch: Chicagohenge is back

Good morning, Chicago.

It's that time of year again.

During the fall and spring equinoxes, the sun rises directly to the east and sets directly to the west. The buildings on the east-west streets hug the sun since, thanks to practically-minded 19th-century city planners, the city grid corresponds with the points on a compass. It's a visual manifestation of a cyclical pattern that dictates the change of the seasons.

Sunday marks the first day of fall. The Northern and Southern Hemispheres will get the same amount of daylight and the tilt of Earth's axis will perfectly align with the sun at 7:43 a.m. Then, day by day, the Northern Hemisphere will tilt away from the sun and Chicago's days will get shorter, the shortest being the winter solstice on Dec. 21. The Northern Hemisphere will then slowly inch back toward the sun, resulting in the spring equinox – and another Chicagohenge – on March 20th.

Residents planning to watch Chicagohenge Sunday at sunrise should head to the western end of a downtown street and look east at 6:38 a.m. Sunday, said said Adler Planetarium Public Observing Educator Hunter Miller. Those who hit their snooze alarm can catch the phenomenon again at 6:46 p.m. if they look west from the eastern end of the street. For the best view, Butler suggests finding a higher vantage point like an elevated CTA platform. Some of his favorites are the State/Lake and LaSalle/Van Buren stations.

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