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
- G. Neujmin
- Discovery site
- Simeiz Obs.
- Discovery date
- 3 October 1929
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ k ɒ l k ɪ s /
- Named after
- Colchis (ancient Kingdom)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 TA · 1936 FJ 1 , 1940 EP · 1954 LL, 1958 FO · A911 MJ, A916 UH
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) background
- Observation arc
- 88.15 yr (32,198 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9744 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3558 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6651 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.35 yr (1,589 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1135 Colchis (/ˈkɒlkɪs/); prov. designation: 1929 TA) is a background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 3 October 1929, by Soviet astronomer Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory on the Crimean peninsula. The X-type asteroid has a rotation period of hours 23.5 and measures approximately 49 kilometers (30 miles) in diameter. It was named for the ancient Kingdom of Colchis.
Orbit and classification