nebula

noun

neb·u·la ˈne-byə-lə

plural nebulae ˈne-byə-ˌlē

-ˌlī

also nebulas

: any of numerous clouds of gas or dust in interstellar space

: galaxy sense 1b

especially : a galaxy other than the Milky Way galaxy

—not used technically

nebular

ˈne-byə-lər

adjective

Did you know?

Nebula comes to us from Latin, where it means "mist" or "cloud." In its earliest English uses in the 1600s, nebula was chiefly a medical term that could refer either to a cloudy formation in urine or to a cloudy speck or film on the eye that caused vision problems. It was first applied to great interstellar clouds of gas and dust in the early 1700s. The adjective nebulous comes from the same Latin root as nebula, and it is considerably older, being first used as a synonym of cloudy or foggy as early as the 1300s. Like nebula, however, this adjective was not used in an astronomical sense until the mid-1600s.

Examples of nebula in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The image shows the white dwarf—which during its heyday was likely similar to our sun—as a pinprick of light at the nebula’s center. —

Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Aug. 2023 Rather than smooth shells, the nebula is formed from random, asymmetric ejections. —

Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 12 July 2023 Cameron Getty; Getty Images Most celestial objects—from stars and nebulas to quasars and galaxies—emit light at a range of wavelengths. —

Ramin Skibba, WIRED, 7 July 2023 Smoke has impacted several of the reserve's weekly astronomy outreach events, Brown said, making nebulas and galaxies difficult to see. —

Madeline Heim, Journal Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2023 Near the edges, however, where the nebula’s dust is thinner, stars behind it are faint but visible and highly reddened because their blue light is scattered away. —

Phil Plait, Scientific American, 16 June 2023 Background stars and galaxies populate the field of view and peek through the nebula of gas and dust that has been ejected from the aging massive star to span 10 light-years across space. —

Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 12 July 2023 This makes the nebula appear like a hole in space with fuzzy, vaguely unsettling crimson edges. —

Phil Plait, Scientific American, 16 June 2023 However, the stars have been removed from the shot to better highlight the nebula’s colors. —

Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 July 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nebula.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.