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
- P. Wild
- Discovery site
- Zimmerwald Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 December 1972
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ s ɪ s ɪ f ə s /
- Named after
- Σίσυφος Sīsyphos ( Greek mythology )
Article
1866 Sisyphus /ˈsɪsɪfəs/ is a binary stony asteroid, near-Earth object and the largest member of the Apollo group, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter.
It was discovered on 5 December 1972, by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild at Zimmerwald Observatory near Bern, Switzerland, and given the provisional designation 1972 XA. It was named after Sisyphus from Greek mythology.