The Headphones Nebula, Jones-Emberson 1, is a large, obscure, and ancient 14th magnitude planetary nebula at a distance of about 1600 light-years from Earth, well-placed this time of the year in Lynx. The 16.8-magnitude central star is a very blue-white dwarf. It was discovered using photographic plates in 1939 from Harvard Observatory by co-discover Rebecca Jones, who also discovered Jones 1 in Pegasus from this same location.
Although in this photo the planetary is an obvious ring, in my 25” telescope, using my NPB filter, it is a very tenuous “C” shaped object with the opening to the north-east, with 2 large lobes of ‘smoke’ on opposite sides, hence the nickname “headphone” nebula. It a perfect description!
The first time I attempted to observe this guy I was fooled by the galaxy pair NGC 2474/2475 about ½° to the south, thinking at first that I was seeing only the lobes. I never did see the actual planetary on that occasion, but I went home happy in thinking that I did!
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