What does a nebula look like up close?

In one of my live video chats, I was asked what star I would like to visit. I talk a bit about that, and what a nebula looks like up close. Bonus geekery: I talk about how fluorescent lights work.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• phil
• plait
• badastronomy
• nebula
• star
• astronomy

[BarronTD]

So do we know that we're not in a nebula right now?

[iophobon]

It always annoyed me when a Star Trek ship needed to hide and just flew into the nearest nebula. They have sensors that can detect ships light years away but as soon they enter a tenuous cloud of hydrogen all bets are off? Or even better, there are the episodes when environmental controls fail and the ship actually starts filling with an odd-colored opaque gas. Keep spreading the word, Phil!

[Tokopol]

@iophobon Gene Roddenberry -- bless his heart -- was always more concerned with conveying an overall message than scientific realism. As a trekkie I've basically resolved myself to that, and it hasn't harmed my enjoyment of the show at all. Was the Mutara Nebula unrealistic? Probably. Who knows, maybe it was a condensed nebula or something. The crew calling something "pure energy" always got on my nerves too, but oh well.

[canadamonster]

the radiation would kill you when you leave earths atmosphere

[sebastiansz]

@BarronTD "The Sun was actually FORMED from a nebula over 4 and a half billion years ago." Source: google -> "How old is the Sun? What will happen when the Sun turns into a nebula?"

[cobloaf1]

Is it similar to fog? As in, when you stand in thick fog, even though you're engulfed in it, your immediate surroundings appear to be "clear" however you can still see the fog outside of that area. Does that make sense?

[ARC1313]

where are these gasesous clouds located?

[ARC1313]

this guy is brillant way ahead of his time

[IbnShahid]

I could listen to this guy talk science all day. Why the hell weren't more of my school teachers like this??!!

[Kaminix]

Cool!

[andromidius]

@BarronTD Interesting idea. I'm guessing (by my own logical deductions, admittedly) that we would know by careful observation. Space dust density, or maybe just looking further away and seeing if we can see the 'edge' of any nebula we may be inside. Though considering how large space is, what we see may not exist anymore! Though I suppose its certainly possible...

[mouseclick92]

First I must say I loved your book and I'm sad to have missed out on a lot of you tv-series.

But what I really wanted to know if you could see any nebulae with the "naked" eye? Because I have a feeling that in most sci-fis, they use a nebula to make the area more "interesting" and "beautifull".

So I guess my real question is: Is sci-fi's presentation of nebulae any realistic?