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
- James Craig Watson
- Discovery date
- 3 April 1872
- Pronunciation
- / æ l ˈ θ iː ə /
- Named after
- Althaea
- Alternative designations
- A872 GA; 1972 KO
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 143.99 yr (52593 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.7896 AU (417.32 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.37335 AU (355.048 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.58147 AU (386.182 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.15 yr (1515.0 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.51 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Althaea
- Followed by
- Q136933
- Follows
- 118 Peitho
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +57.3
- Mass
- +200
- Orbital period
- +1514.378565154268
- Image
- 119Althaea (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 5 more facts
Article
119 Althaea is a main-belt asteroid that was discovered by Canadian-American astronomer J. C. Watson on April 3, 1872, and named after Althaea, the mother of Meleager in Greek mythology. Two occultations by Althaea were observed in 2002, only a month apart.
This object is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.58 AU with an eccentricity of 0.08, bringing it as close as 2.37 AU and taking it as far as 2.79 AU over the course of its 4.15 year orbital period. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 5.78° relative to the plane of the ecliptic.