Starship Asterisk*

Hello, I've been checking APOD for over a year now, and every day I find myself in awe of the beauty of the universe. My personal favorites are always nebulas. They're just breathtaking, every one.

My question is, if we were lucky enough to live on a planet near a star that was located right within a nebula, what would we see in the sky?

I know many (most?) of the photos we see of nebulas are in false color, so perhaps we wouldn't see anything but a whitish haze at night. Perhaps, even, the dust that reflects the light to create the glow of the nebula is so diffuse that you can't see it from that close.

My imagination likes to tell me that, at night, you could look up at the sky and see a gorgeous multicolored haze.

So... what's the reality?

Thanks so much!

I'd rather not be too close! Some double star systems exchange material betweem them.
Orin

CuteLucca wrote:My imagination likes to tell me that, at night, you could look up at the sky and see a gorgeous multicolored haze.

When I look at images online of the Orion Nebula I see deep reds and some oranges. However when I look at it through a scope, I see a white cotton ball.

No matter that I stand in New Jersey or at 9000 ft at the Mauna Kea visitor center. It looks like a cotton ball to me. I have a feeling that would be what we see with the naked eye as well.

Now the real question is what kind of images could you take if you were there with a 16 inch SCT scope with the best CCD camera money could buy? Now that would be a pretty sight

orin stepanek wrote:I'd rather not be too close! Some double star systems exchange material betweem them.
Orin

Hehe, but imagine for a second that there was a 'safe' planet nestled in there somewhere, as unlikely as it actually is.

npsguy wrote:No matter that I stand in New Jersey or at 9000 ft at the Mauna Kea visitor center. It looks like a cotton ball to me. I have a feeling that would be what we see with the naked eye as well.

Yeah, thats what I figured. But man, you're right... false color photos from up close would be amazing!