The Crab Nebula is the wreckage of a star that exploded as a supernova, an event Chinese and other astronomers recorded in 1054. At its centre sits a pulsar, a neutron star so dense that a teaspoon would weigh billions of tonnes, spinning once every 33 milliseconds and sweeping beams of radio waves and visible light like a lighthouse. Fast winds of particles from the pulsar energise the surrounding gas and dust. Combining radio, infrared, optical, ultraviolet and X-ray data reveals different layers of the nebula, about 6500 light-years away in Taurus.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.