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
- J. C. Watson
- Discovery site
- Ann Arbor
- Discovery date
- 28 September 1876
- Pronunciation
- / s ɪ ˈ b ɪ l ə /
- Named after
- Sibyls
- Alternative designations
Article
168 Sibylla is a large main-belt asteroid, discovered by Canadian-American astronomer J. C. Watson on September 28, 1876. It was most likely named for the Sibyls, referring to the Ancient Greek female oracles. Based upon its spectrum this object is classified as a C-type asteroid, which indicates it is very dark and composed of primitive carbonaceous materials. 168 Sibylla is a Cybele asteroid, orbiting beyond most of the main-belt asteroids.
Photometric observations of this asteroid made at the Torino Observatory in Italy during 1990–1991 were used to determine a synodic rotation period of 23.82 ± 0.004 hours. The shape of this slowly rotating object appears to resemble an oblate spheroid.