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
- Johann Palisa
- Discovery date
- 31 January 1883
- Named after
- Russia
- Alternative designations
- A883 BA, 1921 UA, 1929 QA, 1954 SV, 1970 SN 1
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 102.35 yr (37382 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.9986 AU (448.58 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1069 AU (315.19 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.5527 AU (381.88 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.08 yr (1489.7 d )
- Average orbital speed
- 18.65 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 213.685 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Russia
- Followed by
- 233 Asterope
- Follows
- 231 Vindobona
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +54.73
- Orbital period
- +1491.455988807415
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
232 Russia is a large Main belt asteroid. It is classified as a C-type asteroid and is probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 31 January 1883 in Vienna, who named it after the country of Russia.
Photometric observations of this asteroid collected during 2007 show a rotation period of 21.8 ± 0.2 hours with a brightness variation of 0.2 ± 0.02 magnitude. A follow-up study during 2014 discovered that the rotation period varied depending on the phase angle of observation. The measured rotation varied from 22.016 ± 0.004 hours at a phase angle of 21.5 degrees to 17.0, to 21.904 ± 0.002 hours at phase angles between 5.2 degrees and 9.6 degrees. The reason for this variation has to do with the shape of the asteroid.