Henge Finder | Hacker News Reader

Henge Finder

hengefinder.rcdis.co

60 pointsrecursecenter11 comments

On mobile there's no info other than "please visit from a desktop/laptop computer", so for anyone else not near one:

> Finds when the sun aligns with your street for a perfect sunset view (like Manhattanhenge).

> * Enter an address to check for alignment with the sunset (or more specifically, alignment a little before sunset, the last moment the sun is at 50˚)

> * Shows street bearing and sun alignment information

> * Displays coordinates and next henge date (if there is one)

https://github.com/vritvo/henge_finder

Thanks for the summary. Irksome/Curious that the page throws up such a blanket go-away screen when I am using an iPad, which from my perspective is basically the same as a small laptop (only in the browser ofc).

For me on desktop there's no info other than "Henge Finder requires a desktop or laptop computer" (Chrome/Edge/Firefox on Windows, not exactly uncommon!).

The following in the browser console will enable it:

  document.querySelector('.mobile-block').remove(); document.querySelector('.container').style = ''

Actually more fun is the "henge near me" page[1] which lets you test alignment on a map of a chosen city. Very nice interactive use of Google Maps, flipping red alignment bars on and off as the date changes.

On March 12, 2026, all the avenues in the Sunset and Richmond districts of San Francisco are Henge candidates. These are the avenues that are named in alphabetic sequence, North to South. Anyone who grew up in The City can recite the whole sequence (Anza, Balboa, Cabrillo... Vicente, Wawona, Yorba).

[1] https://hengefinder.rcdis.co/henge_near_me

About 10 years ago I was working in Manhattan and I was walking down 42nd towards the train station after work. I looked off towards the sunset and thought "Wow, it's setting right between all the buildings." Then I looked the other way and saw dozens of people taking photos. I had accidentally seen Manhattanhenge and probably ruined a few photos.

The funny thing is that Stonehenge isn't strictly speaking a henge. A henge is an earthwork with a ditch inside a banked earth wall. There might or might not be stones inside the the earthwork.

Having been brought up on pictures of Stonehenge, I felt a little twang of confused letdown the first time I visited Thornborough. This passes quickly though, and if you're vaguely near North Yorkshire it's well worth a visit. I've had the pleasure of camping at the base of it a few times with fire and mead which makes it all the more fun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornborough_Henges

Additionally funny (and ironic) that the term "henge" comes from Stonehenge, even though Stonehenge is technically not a henge.

> A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches would have served defensive purposes poorly, henges are not considered to have been defensive constructions (cf. circular rampart).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henge

Celestial alignment has nothing to do with hengeness.

One tiny error on my part when reading the title and it took me several HN comments to realize this is not a website about finding hedges.

It would be cool if you could toggle sunset/sunrise - my street slopes upward to the east and sunrise might be more interesting.

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