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
- M. F. Wolf
- Discovery site
- Heidelberg Obs.
- Discovery date
- 4 July 1919
- Pronunciation
- / p æ l ɪ ˈ s eɪ n ə /
- Named after
- Johann Palisa , (Austrian astronomer)
- Alternative designations
- 1919 FN · A904 PB, A916 WC
- Minor planet category
- main-belt · Phocaea
- Observation arc
- 84.07 yr (30,706 days)
- Aphelion
- 2.9857 AU
- Perihelion
- 1.9300 AU
- Semi major axis
- 2.4578 AU
- Orbital period sidereal
- 3.85 yr (1,407 days)
- Mean anomaly
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- asteroid
- Named after
- Johann Palisa
- Followed by
- 915 Cosette
- Follows
- Q157858
- Parent body
- Sun
- Minor-planet group
- asteroid belt
- Diameter
- +76.19
- Orbital period
- +1406.499781829444
Show 4 more facts
- P61
- Max Wolf
- P65
Article
914 Palisana, provisional designation 1919 FN, is a Phocaean asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 77 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory on 4 July 1919.
Description