Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to Earth, about 4.3 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. This Hubble image shows its two bright stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, glowing like headlights against the dark. The picture was taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, the instrument that was Hubble's workhorse for its first 13 years until it was replaced in 2009. The two stars are close to the Sun in type: A is a G2 star like our own, and B is a slightly smaller K1 star. They orbit a shared centre of gravity roughly every 80 years. Because the system is so close, astronomers have studied it intensively, and a planet has already been found orbiting Alpha Centauri B.

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.