NGC 6861 was discovered in 1826 by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop, and it is now known to be the second brightest member of the Telescopium Group, a cluster of at least a dozen galaxies. Its dark dust lanes show that it is seen partly tilted, and they are typical of spirals. Its smooth white oval of stars looks like an elliptical galaxy. It is a lenticular galaxy, a class that has features of both. Astronomers do not yet fully understand how the three types are related. A lenticular galaxy could be a spiral that ran out of gas and lost its arms, or the result of two galaxies merging, and a galaxy in a crowded group is more likely to merge.

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.