Picture of the Day · NASA
PK 164 +31.1: The Headphone Nebula
2026-05-27
What is a pair of headphones doing in the sky? Today’s image features the Headphone Nebula, also known as PK 164 +31.1 or Jones-Emberson 1. This planetary nebula, the remnant of a dying Sun-like star, faintly occupies an angular region of the Lynx constellation about 1/5th the diameter of the full moon. The red and blue-ish green colors trace hydrogen and oxygen atoms, respectively, that have been excited and ionized by the nebula's central white dwarf. The headphone shape, where two lobes of hydrogen puncture the inner region of oxygen, adds this object to a long list of oddly shaped nebulae. The morphology of such strange nebulae hint at the presence of a stellar or planetary companion, which can stir the material flowing out from the dying star. You can listen to Hubble and JWST sonifications of planetary nebulae through your very own headphones!
via NASA APOD
Key facts
- Discovered by
- Y. C. Chang
- Discovery site
- Purple Mountain Obs.
- Discovery date
- 30 October 1957
- Named after
- China (country)
- Alternative designations
- 1957 UN 1 · 1959 EL, 1971 KX · 1974 VM, A909 BE
Article
1125 China (prov. designation: 1957 UN1) is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 30 October 1957, by astronomer Zhāng Yùzhé (Y. C. Chang, 张钰哲) at the Chinese Purple Mountain Observatory (紫金山天文台) in Nanjing, and named in honor of the country China. The assumed C-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 5.4 hours and measures approximately 26 kilometers (16 miles) in diameter.
The name and number 1125 China were actually reassigned from another asteroid that had been lost. That asteroid was eventually recovered and given the new designation 3789 Zhongguo, which means "China" in Mandarin. "1125 China" is thus the only permanent designation and name of an asteroid that is ambiguous.