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. Reinmuth
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 5 September 1926
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ dʒ iː ə /
- Named after
- Gaea (Gaia) , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1926 RE · 1930 OE, 1931 XG
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , Aeria
- Observation arc
- 91.06 yr (33,260 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.8555 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.4804 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6680 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.36 yr (1,592 days)
- Mean anomaly
Article
1184 Gaea, provisional designation 1926 RE, is an Aerian asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 5 September 1926, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The asteroid was named after the goddess of Earth, Gaea (Gaia), from Greek mythology.
Orbit and classification