The large illuminated Waterford Crystal New Year’s Eve ball is dropped in New York City.
The ball descends at One Times Square during the annual celebration in Times Square. Waterford Crystal began contributing crystal panels in 2000, and later versions expanded the decorative design while retaining the recognizable sphere shape. The ball is lowered during the final minute before midnight.
The modern ball is about twelve feet in diameter and weighs nearly six tons. Its surface contains thousands of crystal panels and LED lights, allowing it to display changing colors and patterns. Those specifications describe the current event ball, not the much smaller original used in 1907.
The Times Square celebration grew from The New York Times’s 1904 opening celebration for its new headquarters. The first ball drop followed in 1907 after fireworks were restricted. A common mistake is to call the object a crystal ball in the fortune-telling sense; its crystals are decorative panels, and its descent is a public countdown tradition.