NEW YORK (AP) — Twice per year, New Yorkers and visitors are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers. The event is a favorite of photographers and often brings people out onto sidewalks on spring and summer evenings to watch this unique sunset. The first Manhattanhenge of the year happened Tuesday at 8:13 p.m., with a slight variation happening again Wednesday at 8:12 p.m. It will occur again on July 12 and 13. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article in the magazine Natural History. Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, said he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager.

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — A four-letter word sent Shradha Rachamreddy to a third-place finish in last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. The 14-year-old from San Jose, California, made it back as one of 245 spellers competing in this year’s bee, which began Tuesday at a convention center outside Washington. Like other returning spellers who hope to contend for the title, Shradha tried to learn from her mistake. She devoted a portion of her studying this year to the sorts of words she tends to miss. The bee concludes Thursday night, with the champion receiving a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.