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
- R. Schorr
- Discovery site
- Bergedorf Obs.
- Discovery date
- 9 May 1917
- Named after
- Werner von Melle , (mayor of Hamburg)
- Alternative designations
- A917 JB · 1931 RC, 1944 OB · 1952 DL 2 , 1917 BV
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · ( middle ) , background
- Observation arc
- 102.66 yr (37,496 d)
- Aphelion
- 3.2807 AU
- Perihelion
- 2.0966 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.6887 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 4.41 yr (1,610 d)
- Mean anomaly
- 90.376 °
- Mean motion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Werner von Melle
- Followed by
- 870 Manto
- Follows
- 868 Lova
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +21.193
- Orbital period
- +1613.8239349444
Show 3 more facts
- P65
Article
869 Mellena (prov. designation: A917 JB or 1917 BV) is a dark background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 9 May 1917, by astronomer Richard Schorr at the Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg. The carbonaceous C-type asteroid has a shorter than average rotation period of 6.5 hours and measures approximately 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. It was named after Werner von Melle (1853–1937), mayor of Hamburg, who founded the discovering observatory.
Orbit and classification