Q137199

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

10 October 1931

Pronunciation

/ k oʊ ˈ b r iː z i ə /

Named after

Kobresia ( flowering plant )

Alternative designations

1931 TG 2 · 1927 TB, 1951 QJ · 1951 RP 1 , 1954 EG

Minor planet category

main-belt · ( inner ) , background

Observation arc

90.15 yr (32,928 days)

Aphelion

2.6976 AU

Perihelion

2.4143 AU

Semi major axis

2.5560 AU

Orbital period sidereal

4.09 yr (1,493 days)

Mean anomaly

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

Q137204

Follows

Q137183

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

+33.323

Orbital period

+1491.561706371511