Q157599

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

Max Wolf

Discovery site

Heidelberg Observatory

Discovery date

22 July 1917

Pronunciation

/ ˈ h ɜːr b ə /

Alternative designations

1917 CK

Observation arc

98.72 yr (36057 days)

Aphelion

3.9674 AU (593.51 Gm )

Perihelion

2.0291 AU (303.55 Gm)

Semi major axis

2.9983 AU (448.54 Gm)

Orbital period sidereal

5.19 yr (1896.3 d )

Mean anomaly

340.970 °

Mean motion

0° 11 23.424 / day

Inclination

15.145°

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Followed by

881 Athene

Follows

Q157589

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

+32.329

Orbital period

+1898.706648042095