The Milky Way has not been regularly visible from Manhattan since the 1940s, according to Stephen Lieber of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. But two different stargazing projects are trying to change that, at least temporarily.
Swedish artist Katja Aglert, using $21,000 from the Swedish government, is trying to convince owners of buildings and billboards, located from 41st to 51st Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, to simultaneously dim their lights for one minute. Her light pollution project would create a darkened corridor from which stargazers would be briefly afforded a better look at the stars.
Further north, amateur astronomer Jason Kendall is trying to get the Parks Department to darken Inwood’s Dyckman Fields on April 3rd and April 4th for two nights of stargazing in honor of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first recorded use of a telescope. Kendall, who spends his weekends in the park coaxing passers-by to look through his telescope, tells the Times, "I was trying to see an ancient supernova remnant, but the street lights are too bright." Parks officials say they're considering his proposal, which would reveal hundreds of additional stars to the naked eye.
