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
- Auguste Charlois
- Discovery site
- Nice Observatory
- Discovery date
- 7 January 1896
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ z æ n θ iː /
- Named after
- Xanthe , (Greek mythology)
- Alternative designations
- 1896 CJ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt
- Observation arc
- 121.31 yr (44,307 days)
- Aphelion
- 3.2765 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.5902 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.9334 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.02 yr (1,835 days)
- Mean anomaly
- 248.70 °
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Xanthe
- Followed by
- Q152691
- Follows
- 410 Chloris
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +76.53
- Orbital period
- +1835.831407013616
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
411 Xanthe is an asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 77 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by French astronomer Auguste Charlois at Nice Observatory on 7 January 1896. The asteroid was named after Xanthe, an Oceanid or sea nymph, and one of the many Titan daughters of Oceanus and Tethys from Greek mythology.
References