This Hubble image centres on the galaxy cluster SDSS J1050+0017, whose huge mass warps the space around it. This effect, strong gravitational lensing, bends light from galaxies behind the cluster into curved streaks that form a rough circle around its centre. Astronomers use these distorted images to calculate the cluster's total mass, including the dark matter within it. Lensing also magnifies distant galaxies, letting astronomers see objects that would otherwise be too faint. Hubble's Frontier Fields programme used this approach across several clusters to find some of the most distant galaxies known.

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.