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
- Hans-Emil Schuster
- Discovery date
- 6 August 1980
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ n ɪ k s / "Nyx" . Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
- Named after
- Nyx
- Alternative designations
- 1980 PA; 1988 XB 1
- Minor planet category
- Amor ; Mars-crosser
- Adjectives
- Nyctian
- Observation arc
- 13021 days (35.65 yr)
- Aphelion
- 2.81198 AU (420.666 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 1.04239 AU (155.939 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 1.92719 AU (288.304 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 2.68 yr (977.20 d )
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- near-Earth object
- Named after
- Nyx
- Followed by
- Q1046670
- Follows
- Q152351
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +1.0
- Orbital period
- +977.7386961236871
- Image
- 3908 nyx-s02.jpg
Show 4 more facts
Article
3908 Nyx is an Amor and Mars-crosser asteroid. It was discovered by Hans-Emil Schuster on August 6, 1980, and is named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night, after which Pluto's moon Nix is also named. It is 1–2 km (0.62–1.24 mi) in diameter and is a V-type asteroid, meaning that it may be a fragment of the asteroid 4 Vesta.
Observations