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
- A. Kopff
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 22 January 1908
- Pronunciation
- / ˈ b iː ɡ əl /
- Named after
- HMS Beagle , (Darwin's ship)
- Alternative designations
- 1908 BU · 1917 Sed , 1954 HJ
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( outer ) , Themis · Beagle
- Observation arc
- 109.90 yr (40,141 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.5722 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.7270 AU
- Semi major axis
- 3.1496 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 5.59 yr (2,042 d)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- HMS Beagle
- Followed by
- 657 Gunlöd
- Follows
- 655 Briseïs
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +62.604
- Orbital period
- +2047.965564508629
Show 3 more facts
- P61
- August Kopff
- P65
Article
656 Beagle, provisional designation 1908 BU, is an asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 22 January 1908, by German astronomer August Kopff at the Heidelberg Observatory. It is the principal body and namesake of the small Beagle cluster located within the Themis family. The C-type asteroid is likely highly elongated and has a rotation period of 7.0 hours. It was named for Charles Darwin's ship, HMS Beagle.
Orbit and classification