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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery date
- 15 March 1895
- Named after
- J. Ducros
- Alternative designations
- 1895 BU
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 121.08 yr (44225 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.49063 AU (522.191 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.76117 AU (413.065 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 3.12590 AU (467.628 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.527 yr (2,018.6 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 16.84 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 294.184°
- Mean motion
- 0° 10 42.013 / day
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- Q152488
- Follows
- 399 Persephone
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +36.001
- Orbital period
- +2018.358838084538
- Image
- 400Ducrosa (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 3 more facts
Article
400 Ducrosa is a typical main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Auguste Charlois on 15 March 1895 in Nice, and named for It J. Ducros a mechanic at the Nice Observatory. This minor planet is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 3.126 AU with a period of 5.527 yr and an orbital eccentricity of 0.117. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 10.5° to the plane of the ecliptic.
A three-dimensional model of 400 Ducrosa based on its light curve This asteroid has a B-type taxonomy, indicating it has a relatively bright geometric albedo for a carbonaceous asteroid. It has an estimated diameter of 33.66±1.6 km. Photometric measurements of the asteroid made in 2005 at the Palmer Divide Observatory showed a light curve with a rotation period of 6.87±0.01 h and a brightness variation of 0.62±0.02 in magnitude. A 2020 study found a rotation period of 6.8678±0.0001 h with a variation of 0.57±0.03 magnitude.