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
- A. Charlois
- Discovery site
- Nice Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 August 1895
- Pronunciation
- German: [ ˈɛʁnaː ]
- Named after
- Erna Bidschof , (grand-daughter of J. Palisa )
- Alternative designations
- 1895 CB · 1949 KD 1 , A903 DA · A905 OB
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , background
- Observation arc
- 114.37 yr (41,772 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.4439 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.3861 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9150 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.98 yr (1,818 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Followed by
- 407 Arachne
- Follows
- Q152589
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +46.266
- Orbital period
- +1819.786290123339
- Image
- 406Erna (Lightcurve Inversion).png
Show 4 more facts
Article
406 Erna, provisional designation 1895 CB, is a dark asteroid of the background population in the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 46 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at Nice Observatory on 22 August 1895. The asteroid was presumably named after Erna Bidschof, the granddaughter of Johann Palisa.
Orbit and classification