NGC 6872 is a spiral galaxy about 300 million light-years away, and at over 500,000 light-years from tip to tip it is one of the largest spirals known. Its unusual shape comes from gravitational interaction with the smaller galaxy IC 4970, which sits just above it. The upper left spiral arm is distorted and filled with bright star-forming regions, probably because IC 4970 passed through it around 130 million years ago. Astronomers note the galaxy is relatively short of free hydrogen, the raw material for new stars. Without the interaction, it might not have been able to produce these bursts of star formation at all.

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.