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
- C. H. F. Peters
- Discovery date
- 31 October 1886
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ p r ɪ m n oʊ /
- Named after
- Prymno
- Alternative designations
- A886 UA
- Minor planet category
- Main belt
- Adjectives
- Prymnoian / p r ɪ m ˈ n oʊ . i ə n /
- Observation arc
- 98.79 yr (36082 d)
- Aphelion
- 2.54054 AU (380.059 Gm )
- Perihelion
- 2.12336 AU (317.650 Gm)
- Semi major axis
- 2.33195 AU (348.855 Gm)
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.56 yr (1300.7 d )
- Average orbital speed
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Prymno
- Followed by
- 262 Valda
- Follows
- 260 Huberta
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +50.011
- Orbital period
- +1299.934027696986
Show 4 more facts
Article
261 Prymno is a somewhat large Main belt asteroid. It is classified as a B-type asteroid and probably has a primitive composition not unlike common C-type carbonaceous asteroids.
It was discovered by C. H. F. Peters on October 31, 1886, in Clinton, New York and was named after the Greek Oceanid Prymno.