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
- K. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 8 February 1927
- Pronunciation
- / æ s t r oʊ ˈ n oʊ m i ə /
- Named after
- astronomy , (a natural science )
- Alternative designations
- 1927 CB · A911 RA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 105.83 yr (38,656 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.6308 AU
- Perihelion
- 3.1511 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.3910 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 6.24 yr (2,281 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- astronomy
- Followed by
- 1155 Aënna
- Follows
- Q136548
- Parent body
- Sun
- Diameter
- +55.715
- Orbital period
- +2281.472803608413
Show 4 more facts
Article
1154 Astronomia, provisional designation 1927 CB, is a carbonaceous background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory on 8 February 1927. The asteroid was named for the natural science of astronomy.
Orbit and classification