623 Chimaera

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

K. Lohnert

Discovery site

Heidelberg

Discovery date

22 January 1907

Pronunciation

/ k aɪ ˈ m ɪər ə / ky- MEER -ə

Named after

Chimera

Alternative designations

1907 XJ

Observation arc

106.49 yr (38896 d)

Aphelion

2.7396 AU (409.84 Gm )

Perihelion

2.1819 AU (326.41 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.4607 AU (368.12 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

3.86 yr (1409.9 d )

Mean anomaly

186.178 °

Mean motion

0° 15 19.224 / day

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

624 Hektor

Follows

622 Esther

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

+44.09

Orbital period

+1410.235779332181