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
- E. Roemer
- Discovery site
- NOFS ( USNO )
- Discovery date
- 29 October 1964
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ lj uː s ɪ f ər / LEW -si-fər
- Named after
- Lucifer (religion)
- Alternative designations
- 1964 UA · 1954 SQ, 1954 TC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer )
- Observation arc
- 62.61 yr (22,870 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.3078 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4883 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.8981 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.93 yr (1,802 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Lucifer
- Followed by
- 1931 Čapek
- Follows
- Q146093
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +34.437
- Orbital period
- +1799.997720227599
- Image
- 1930Lucifer (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
1930 Lucifer, provisional designation 1964 UA, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 34 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 October 1964, by American astronomer Elizabeth Roemer at the Flagstaff station (NOFS) of the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). It is named after Lucifer, the "shining one" or "light-bearer" from the Hebrew Bible.
Orbit