NGC 1309 is a spiral galaxy about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus, shown in a Hubble Picture of the Week full of background galaxies. Its scientific interest lies in two supernovae. SN 2002fk was a textbook Type Ia explosion, the kind that happens when a white dwarf star blows apart. SN 2012Z was stranger: classified as a Type Iax event, its explosion did not destroy the white dwarf, which survived as a bright zombie star. Hubble images taken over several years also identified the white dwarf progenitor of a supernova before it exploded, a first.

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.