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
- E. Delporte
- Discovery site
- Uccle Obs.
- Discovery date
- 10 March 1929
- Named after
- Astrid of Sweden , (Queen consort of the Belgians)
- Alternative designations
- 1929 EB · 1949 QF 2 , 1954 UL 3 · 1964 VW, 1972 LM 1 · A917 SQ, A920 JA
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) · Astrid
- Adjectives
- Astridian
- Observation arc
- 97.07 yr (35,455 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9171 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.6577 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.7874 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.65 yr (1,700 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Astrid of Sweden
- Followed by
- 1129 Neujmina
- Follows
- Q136222
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +41.851
- Orbital period
- +1702.50789929623
Show 5 more facts
- P65
Article
1128 Astrid, provisional designation 1929 EB, is a carbonaceous Astridian asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It is the parent body of the Astrid family and measures approximately 40 kilometers in diameter.
The asteroid was discovered by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle on 10 March 1929, and later named for Astrid of Sweden, Queen consort of the Belgians.