Jones-Emberson 1, sometimes called the Headphone Nebula due to its distinct shape, is a great challenge target for backyard photographers.
The very faint planetary nebula Jones-Emberson 1 imaged with a large amateur telescope. Credit: J.-P. Metsavainio
- Jones-Emberson 1 is a large, faint planetary nebula.
- It’s nicknamed the “Headphone Nebula” due to its shape.
- Located 1600 light-years away, it was discovered in 1939.
- It’s a challenging target for amateur astronomers.
The sky is filled with interesting and unusual planetary nebulae, which give us a forward look at the end state of our own star and solar system. Some of the faintest and most unusual planetaries were discovered long after the NGC and IC catalogs, and so bear strange designations. Such is the case with a faint planetary nebula in Lynx, Jones-Emberson 1, which glows at about 14th magnitude and spans a whopping 6’ across.Â
Such big, very faint nebulae often show distinctive shapes, and such is the case with this object. It’s been nicknamed the Headphone Nebula due to its resemblance to that useful object — at least when you’re sleep deprived enough.
This strange object was discovered by astronomers Rebecca Jones and Richard Emberson in 1939. It is quite remarkable that such an object went undiscovered for so long!Â
Jones-Emberson 1 lies at a distance of 1,600 light-years and has a quite faint central star, which glows meekly at magnitude 16.8.Â
The nebula’s unique shape presents two prominent lobes of brighter material around the shell’s perimeter, which gives rise to the playful nickname.Â
This object is a quite challenging visual deep-sky target and a great challenge object for backyard photographers.
