City of Stars

Text and photographs by Neil deGrasse Tyson

What if I had been raised somewhere other than New York City? What if I had grown up on a farm, under a dark nighttime sky filled with stars? I don’t suppose that in this imagined life as a farmer’s child, I would have ever noticed the stars, just as New Yorkers never notice tall buildings. Rarely are we moved emotionally by what we take for granted.

During a fourth-grade trip to the Hayden Planetarium, I became aware of stars for the first time. And I am now an urban astrophysicist, through and through. To this day, when I travel to observatories on high mountains and I see the sky with a clarity that rivals views from space, I think to myself, It reminds me of the Hayden Planetarium.

In spite of the Planetarium’s profound influence on me and on millions more, the day-to-day life of a New Yorker can remain a sky-starved existence unless you know where to look. References to the cosmos actually abound in Manhattan and are generously sprinkled throughout the boroughs in the form of sculptures, decorations, architectural elements, and storefronts. These abundant cosmic references give fresh meaning to the New York conceit that we live at the center of the universe.

Grand Central Terminal Armillary Spheres Bronx High School of Science Daily News Building Unisphere West 81st Street Subway Station Rose Center for Earth and Space Restaurants and Shops Murphy Center at Asphalt Green Islamic Cultural Center of New York Earth Model The Starry Night

Saint Paul’s Church United Nations Prometheus Atlas Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine McGraw-Hill Building Plaza Sunset on 34th Street Along the Manhattan Grid New York Hall of Science Full Moon Over a New York Cityscape Sunset on the World Trade Center