Details: At a distance of about 1600 light-years and about 4 light-years across, Jones-Emberson 1 has a low surface brightness and a faint, very blue central star, a white dwarf and all that remains of the original star. The white dwarf formed when its progenitor star consumed all its hydrogen and helium, converting them to heavier elements. With only heavier elements remaining, temperatures reach astounding levels, the star collapses and then begins to expel material in the form of shells. The white dwarf and surrounding material is all that remains of the original star. Visible and annotated above, the central star is 16.8 magnitude or over 20,000 times fainter than what our human eye can detect unaided.

Jones-Emberson 1 was discovered in 1939 by Rebecca Jones and Richard M. Emberson hence its name. However, it is more often referred to as PK 164+31.1 derived from Czechoslovakian astronomers Luboš Perek and Luboš Kohoutek who in 1967 published a Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae. Items in this catalog are abbreviated PK for their last names, Perek-Kohoutek, or sometimes PLN for Planetary Nebula. Following PK are two numbers measured and calculated in the galactic coordinate system. The first of these two numbers is the galactic longitude measuring the angular distance of an object eastward along the galactic equator using our sun at its center with a zero-longitude value pointing directly toward the center of our own Milky Way Galaxy ! The second of these two numbers is the galactic latitude which measures the angle of an object north of the Milky Way Galaxy’s equator as viewed from earth. This galactic coordinate system is analogous to earth’s terrestrial longitude and latitude but uses the galactic center and equatorial plane as reference instead of the earths center and primary maridean. In this case PK 164+31.1 indicated 164° east of the sun-galaxy center and +31.1° north.

Originally Jones and Emberson thought they had imaged two faint galaxies NGC 2474 and 2475, nearby, but it wasn’t until 40 years later that the error was corrected and credited the two astronomers for the planetary nebula discovery! To this day, it is not fully understood what makes the two brighter lobes that are the “headphone ears” and its namesake. The best modern explanation is that during the early stages of throwing off material and creating the white dwarf, this star emitted two relatively short lived (hundreds of years) energetic jets from each of its poles, blasting outward and interacting with the slower more dens material ejected earlier.

Annotations. In the image above, hover a mouse or curser over the image to show annotations of the Headphone Nebula, with several enlarged insets identifying interesting features! Clicking on the image displays a full screen view of the nebula without the animations that can be zoomed in further.

Beginning on the left are two enlarged insets of distant galaxies PGC 139044 and 2439677. Moving left to right, we find in the middle of the above image, an enlarged inset of the very blue central star. Also at the lower middle are lines pointing to the earliest shells thrown off by the dying star. Note also distant galaxies visible through thin layers of the inner nebula. Finally, on the right, are distant galaxies highlighted and likely to be at 10s of millions of light years away.

Below Images: The image below is the same image as above but processed to remove all stars except for the central star that belongs to the nebula. Using a mouse to hover over the image brings all the stars back. Finally, the last image below is a zoomed in and rotated version of the nebula with and without stars to better see the representation of a human head wearing headphones.

Object Statistics: Constellation: Lyns, Right Ascension: 07h 57m 51.6s, Declination: +53° 25' 17”, Apparent Magnitude: 14, Central Star Magnitude: 16.8, Size: 400” or 6.7’ of arc, Distance: 1600 light-years, Size: 4 light-years.