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
- Alphonse Borrelly
- Discovery date
- 27 August 1884
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ v ɑː n ə . d ɪ s /
- Named after
- Freyja
- Alternative designations
- A884 QB
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Observation arc
- 131.61 yr (48072 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2134 AU (480.72 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.1178 AU (316.82 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.6656 AU (398.77 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.35 yr (1,589.6 d)
- Average orbital speed
- 18.25 km/s
- Mean anomaly
- 60.5202 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Freyja
- Followed by
- 241 Germania
- Follows
- 239 Adrastea
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +87.928
- Orbital period
- +1586.857443548848
Show 4 more facts
- P65
Article
240 Vanadis is a fairly large main-belt asteroid with a diameter of around 100 km. It was discovered by Alphonse Borrelly on August 27, 1884, in Marseille and was named after Freyja (Vanadis), the Norse fertility goddess. The asteroid is orbiting the Sun at a distance of 2.67 AU with a period of 4.35 yr and an orbital eccentricity of 0.206. The orbital plane is inclined at an angle of 2.10° to the plane of the ecliptic.
Photometric observations of the asteroid made during 2022 were used to produce a light curve that showed a rotation period of 10.565±0.002 h with a brightness variation of 0.07±0.01 in magnitude. This is consistent with earlier estimates. It is very dark and is classified as a C-type asteroid, probably composed of primitive carbonaceous material.