Hubble has captured a nearly edge-on view of NGC 4753, a lenticular galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Lenticular galaxies have an elliptical shape with ill-defined spiral arms, sitting between ellipticals and spirals in classification. The dark dust lanes around its core are thought to have come from a merger with a nearby dwarf galaxy roughly 1.3 billion years ago. Most of the galaxy's mass is believed to lie in a halo of dark matter, which does not emit or reflect light and makes up about 85 percent of all matter. William Herschel first discovered the galaxy in 1784, and the new image is the sharpest view yet of its structure.

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.