History Main / SpaceClouds

In reality, nebulae and other "clouds" of interstellar matter are extremely sparse -- they have only about one atom of matter per cubic centimeter of space. That's a ''trillion trillion'' times less dense than the matter you could expect to find on Earth or in a star. The only reason these nebulae appear cloudlike to us is their immense size. A nebula can be many light years across, regardless of how compact it may look from Earth.

Compare AsteroidThicket. Trope name is a meta-example of SpaceX. An example of space [[SpaceIsAir acting like air]].

** In ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', the Krikkit people have never seen stars and are entirely unaware of the night sky specifically because their planet lives inside a cloud [[spoiler: of Hactar's debris. In this case, Trillian notes the incredible improbability of the entire situation and deduces that an outside intelligence is behind the whole thing.]]

** The Serpent Nebula around the Citadel is a regular pea-souper which obscures the massive station for a dramatic [[TheReveal reveal]] as you fly in -- and is therefore noted as being blatantly artificial, and the subject of much speculation as to why someone would go to so much effort to keep it that way.[[spoiler: It's there to cut the Citadel off once the Reapers succeed in shutting down the Mass Relay network.]]

** Each region of Sirius, except for Liberty, is located near a specific type of nebula. Bretonia has the Barrier, a huge bluish-white cloud of ice crystals. Kusari has the Crow Nebula, the aforementioned blue nebula composed of ionized hydrogen, oxygen and helium. Rheinland has the Walker Nebula, which is made up of yellow clouds with mineral rich asteroid fields. The Edge World systems have the Edge Nebula, a mysterious green cloud full of alien organisms, artifacts and [[spoiler: Nomads.]] And they're all [[SceneryPorn drop dead gorgeous.]]

In reality, nebulae and other 'clouds' of interstellar matter are extremely sparse -- they have only about one atom of matter per cubic centimeter of space. That's a ''trillion trillion'' times less dense than the matter you could expect to find on Earth or in a star. The only reason these nebulae appear cloudlike to us is their immense size- they can be several light years across.

* The Mutara Nebula in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' is [[TropeCodifier one of the best-known and most imitated examples]].

Far out in space, our hero's CoolShip is on the run from the BigBad and hides out in a nebula/gas field/whatever and is obscured from their pursuer's sensors. It's a misty realm where you may not even be able to see your own hand in front of your face. This trope is about what seems to be a [[OmnipresentTropes common theme]] in nearly all ScienceFiction shows: a (nearly) human-scale cloud that is inexplicably stable in space. To add to the drama, the cloud may also contain dangerous weather, with lightning bolts and the like.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' makes the nebulae-are-visible-close-up mistake. Especially with Lee flying through low-visibility conditions in the Ionian nebula. The cloud around New Caprica, which was likely held there because of the planet's gravity well, is more justified though.

* A very common goof related to this trope is in artistic illustrations of spaceships, satellites, etc. to put as background a bright (see {{Analysis/SpaceClouds}} Analysis), even ''false color''[[note]]Taken in wavelenghts different to visible light and colored to be appreciated by human eyes[[/note]], image of a nebula. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] somewhat, however, in those pictures by {{UsefulNotes/NASA}} and the like to illustrate a mission that will study the Universe in whatever wavelength(s), where the background is a picture of a nebula seen in the band(s) observed by that said mission.

** Also notable is the completely opaque Perseus Veil surrounding Geth space.

* Yuri uses a dense gas cloud around a neutron star to hide his ship at one point in ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace''. Various nebulae can be seen as "Celestial Phenomena" as you explore the galaxies.

* Played with in ''Franchise/MassEffect''; most nebulae are just there as pretty colours on the sector scale of the Galactic Map, and disappear once you zoom in to the star-system level. The Serpent Nebula around the Citadel is a regular pea-souper which obscures the massive station for a dramatic [[TheReveal reveal]] as you fly in - and is therefore noted as being blatantly artificial, and the subject of much speculation as to why someone would go to so much effort to keep it that way.[[spoiler: It's there to cut the Citadel off once the Reapers succeed in shutting down the Mass Relay network.]]
* Also featured in ''Francise/MassEffect'' is the completely opaque Perseus Veil surrounding Geth space.

In reality, nebulae and other 'clouds' of interstellar matter are extremely sparse- they have only about one atom of matter per cubic centimeter of space. That's a ''trillion trillion'' times less dense than the matter you could expect to find on Earth or in a star. The only reason these nebulae appear cloudlike to us is their immense size- they can be several light years across.

* Matter Splatter Galaxy from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy''.

* In ''Franchise/{{Bionicle}}'', when the planet Spherus Magna [[EarthShatteringKaboom shattered]], the smaller planets left behind formed a gigantic Bionicle emblem in space: three planets represented the three large dots, while the "swooshes" around them were formed by, as the [[WordOfGod writer once claimed]], [[SpaceIsCold frozen]] clouds of [[AppliedPhlebotinum Energized Protodermis]] dust, which kept its shape even after 100 000 years.

* A very common goof related to this trope is in artistic illustrations of spaceships, satellites, etc. to put as background a bright (see {{Analysis/SpaceClouds}}), even ''false color''[[note]]Taken in wavelenghts different to visible light and colored to be appreciated by human eyes[[/note]], image of a nebula. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] somewhat, however, in those pictures by {{UsefulNotes/NASA}} and the like to illustrate a mission that will observ whatever in whatever wavelength, where the background is a picture of that nebula seen that way.

* In the ''Literature/LifeTheUniverseAndEverything'', the Krikkit people have never seen stars and are entirely unaware of the night sky specifically because their planet lives inside a cloud [[spoiler: of Hactar's debris. In this case, Trillian notes the incredible improbability of the entire situation and deduces that an outside intelligence is behind the whole thing.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has an episode where a bunch of totally-not-the-Franchise/{{Transformers}} are chasing after Coop into a SpaceCloud. He proceeds to turn it into a MookHorrorshow.

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-->'''Joss Whedon''': "I have no idea what an 'ion cloud' is or why it would act like this, but we needed for that shot, so we have it."

* The 2011 film ''{{Thor}}'' features a dazzling journey through the cosmos via the rainbow bridge through a nebula which looks suspiciously like the Pillars Of Creation, complete with the false coloration featured in the famous Hubble photo.

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* In ''{{Bionicle}}'', when the planet Spherus Magna [[EarthShatteringKaboom shattered]], the smaller planets left behind formed a gigantic Bionicle emblem in space: three planets represented the three large dots, while the "swooshes" around them were formed by, as the [[WordOfGod writer once claimed]], [[SpaceIsCold frozen]] clouds of [[AppliedPhlebotinum Energized Protodermis]] dust, which kept its shape even after 100 000 years.

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* In ''TheLydianOption'', the Eye is an asteroid prison visible as an eye in the middle of a nebula shaped like a creature.

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* ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'' portrayal of nebulas fits perfectly: you literally only can see objects a few meters away from your viewport.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{WALL-E}}'' Has the ship Axiom parked next to a nebula which initially hides its presence as the Earth-ship approaches.
* ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' has an episode where a bunch of totally-not-the-{{Transformers}} are chasing after Coop into a SpaceCloud. He proceeds to turn it into a MookHorrorshow.

* ''MegasXLR'' has an episode where a bunch of totally-not-the-{{Transformers}} are chasing after Coop into a SpaceCloud. He proceeds to turn it into a MookHorrorshow.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' makes the nebulae-are-visible-close-up mistake. Especially with Lee flying through low-visibility conditions in the Ionian nebula. The cloud around New Caprica, which was likely held there because of the planet's gravity well, is more justified though.

* ''TachyonTheFringe'' has the Twilight Region, which is a giant nebula that obscures most sensors. In fact, you need special sensors and radiation screens just to survive there. The "fog" is even seeping inside the Deep Fringe Array station. It also drives people insane after prolonged exposure, although the radiation may have something to do with it.
* ''{{Freelancer}}'' has numerous nebulas that the player can travel through. One system even has a light blue nebula enveloping the entire system, looking like ''a bright, sunny day'' on Earth. The game also had a [[SpaceCompression number of other issues]].

* ''StarWars Rogue Squadron II'' has a stage where you have to fight off fighters in a nebula.
* {{Otherspace}} uses a gigantic red and gold nebula called the Rigor Strand as a sort of close-by frontier area where rogues and adventurers hang out, due to the fact that the nebula's sensor-thwarting abilities make it nearly impossible to map out.

* Yuri uses a dense gas cloud around a neutron star to hide his ship at one point in ''InfiniteSpace''. Various nebulae can be seen as "Celestial Phenomena" as you explore the galaxies.

* In ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', Zaphod claims that the inside of a nebula is the only place you'd see a completely blank viewport. Mind you, this is [[TedBaxter Zaphod]] talking, but the screen actually ''is'' blank until they adjust the view. Such perfect cover is [[MythologyGag very, very improbable:]] any random point selected within any random nebula is liable to have stars, if rather occluded stars, visible in some directions. The notion that the nebula has been providing this perfect cover to the stars Solianis and Rahm for five million years is [[MythologyGag even more improbable.]]

* In ''EscapeVelocity'', systems in the Serpens Nebula can have varying degrees of sensor-jamming interference that continually obscures the view screen.

* ''{{Freespace}}'' has nebulae that look like really thick technicolor soup when you fly through them, obscuring things from your radar except at close range, and limiting sight range to under a kilometer. They also have frequent lightning storms which, when intense enough, wreak EMP-related havoc with your ship's HUD.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' makes the nebulae-are-visible-close-up mistake. Especially with Lee flying through low-visibility conditions in the Ionian nebula.

* In ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion 2'', nebulae greatly reduce the cruising speed of ships passing through them unless the owner has a specific racial trait. They also disable shields that haven't been properly upgraded, when battling around planets in star systems located inside a nebula.

* Nebulae show up in the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' games. They're all extremely dense (with a few exceptions), sometimes limiting visibility down to 10 kilometers. In the ''Albion Prelude'' expansion pack for ''Terran Conflict'', the nebulae's visibility obstructing effect is removed, making them atmospheric effects that don't affect visibility. The ''Xtended Terran Conflict'' [[GameMod mod]] likewise mostly removes obstructive nebulae, but one sector, Tortuga, has such thick yellow clouds that it's often impossible to see the entirety of a capital ship - visibility it something like 1.5 kilometers (in a game where [[MileLongShip most capital ships are 2 or more kilometers long]]). Better keep a close eye on your gravidar
* Matter Splatter Galaxy from ''SuperMarioGalaxy''.