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
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery date
- 13 October 1879
- Pronunciation
- / h ər ˈ s ɪ l i ə /
- Named after
- Hersilia
- Alternative designations
- A879 TC, 1961 WG, 1974 PM
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 136.34 yr (49798 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.84299 AU (425.305 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.63811 AU (394.656 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.74055 AU (409.980 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.54 yr (1657.1 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 17.99 km/s
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Hersilia
- Followed by
- Q147330
- Follows
- 205 Martha
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +113.0
- Orbital period
- +1658.43849445557
Show 4 more facts
Article
206 Hersilia is a fairly large Main belt asteroid. It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on October 13, 1879, in Clinton, New York. The asteroid was named after Hersilia, Roman wife of Romulus. It is classified as a primitive, dark carbon-rich C-type asteroid.
Measurements made with the IRAS observatory give a diameter of 101.72 ± 5.18 km and a geometric albedo of 0.06 ± 0.01. By comparison, the MIPS photometer on the Spitzer Space Telescope gives a diameter of 97.99 ± 7.40 km and a geometric albedo of 0.06 ± 0.02.