Nebulae in fiction

[[Image:Crab Nebula.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Crab Nebula]]
{|align=right
|__TOC__
|}

[[Nebula]]e, being often visually interesting astronomical objects, frequently find themselves used as settings or backdrops for works of [[science fiction]].

==[[Crab Nebula]]==
*Earthmen meet an alien race for the first time within the Crab Nebula in the science fiction story ''[[First Contact]]'' (''[[Astounding]]'', May 1945) by [[Murray Leinster]].
*In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial, ''[[Colony in Space]]'', the Master reveals that the Crab Nebula's creation was the result of the SUPER Race of the planet Exarius (or Uxarius) testing their Doomsday Weapon, a device which could project anti-matter at super-luminal speed.
* In ''[[Battle of the Planets]]'' (the Americanized version of the Japanese television program, ''[[Gatchaman]]'' ), the Crab Nebula is the home of the planet Spectra, from which Zoltar and the Great Spirit are engaged in a war to defeat the Federation (a group of planets that includes Earth).

==[[Eagle Nebula]]==
[[Image:Eagle nebula pillars.jpg|thumb|right|The iconic Hubble photo of the gas pillars in the Eagle Nebula.|The "Pillars of Creation" from the Eagle Nebula, Courtesy of [[NASA]]/[[ESA]]]]
* The accompanying [[Hubble Space Telescope|Hubble]] image is one of the most popular poster images of [[outer space]], and often appears in [[science fiction film|science-fiction movies]]. The Eagle Nebula was one of the space regions passed through during the opening "zoom out" shot of the movie ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'' (1997), and appeared in the opening scene of the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' episode "[[Into the Fire (Babylon 5)|Into the Fire]]". The Eagle Nebula, along with the [[Hourglass Nebula]], was featured in the [[liner notes]] of [[Pearl Jam]]'s [[2000 in music|2000]] album ''[[Binaural (album)|Binaural]]''.

==[[Horsehead Nebula]]==
* The main character from the animated TV series [[Widget (TV series)|Widget]] hails from the Horsehead Nebula.
* In ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', the planet [[Magrathea]] is located in the Horsehead Nebula.
* In the 1978 ''[[Captain Harlock]]'' series, Harlock is led to believe a Mazone base is located within the Horsehead Nebula.
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s novel ''[[The Stars, Like Dust]]'' involves a search for a ''rebellion world'', which the characters suppose to be located in the nebula. Asimov exemplifies the [[geocentrism ]] of the nebula's name by having one character expound the [[false etymology]] that the nebula (which, from most other vantage points, looks nothing like a horse's profile) is named for a pioneer explorer named Horace Hedd.
* In the [[video game]] ''[[The Orion Conspiracy]]'', the entire Horsehead Nebula is sucked into a [[black hole]] that apparently appears out of nowhere. This freak formation of a black hole is in the game dubbed the Orion Effect.
* In the [[Anne_McCaffrey#The_Ship_series|Ship series]], traveling the Horsehead Nebula is commonly referenced as the ultimate achievement for a Brainship team.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episodes "[[The Impossible Planet]]" and "[[The Satan Pit]]", the Ood are from the Horsehead Nebula
* In the video game ''[[Mass Effect]]'', the Horsehead Nebula is a navigable cluster, containing the Strenuus system (which houses the planets Yunthorl, Antitarra, Trelyn, Xawin, Thesalgon, and the orbiting ''MSV Majesty'') and the Pax system (which hosts the planets Svarog, Noveria, Morana, and Veles).

==[[Hourglass Nebula]]==
* The Hourglass Nebula appears on the cover of [[Pearl Jam|Pearl Jam's]] [[2000]] album ''[[Binaural (album)|Binaural]]''.
* The Hourglass Nebula features prominently in the plot of the OVA ''[[Captain Harlock|Captain Herlock: The Endless Odyssey]]''.

==[[IC 2118]]==
* In the TV show [[Andromeda (TV series)|''Andromeda'']], the Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118) was the site of the last major stand between the Old Commonwealth and the Nietzschean Alliance. Nietzscheans tell a story of how the Angel of Death appears in the sky, and lit up the CoSMoS with fire. This effectively crushed both the remainder of the Old Commonwealth fleet, as well as crippled a good majority of the Nietzschean fleet - leaving the way for disorder and instability.

==[[Lagoon Nebula]]==
[[Image:Lagoon_Nebula.jpg|right|200px]]
* '''Object M8''': In the science fiction TV show ''[[Battlestar Galactica (re-imagining)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', the Lagoon Nebula is seen in the episode "[[Home (Battlestar Galactica)|Home]], Part II", in the [[Tomb of Athena]] on [[Kobol]] and along with the presence of the twelve [[zodiac]] symbols, it serves as a rough reference point to the location of Earth. Since the nebula looks the same from Earth and from the Twelve Colonies, the two star systems lie in a relatively straight line. The nebula was erroneously stated to be in the constellation [[Scorpius|Scorpio]] in the episode; a mistake acknowledged by the producers. [[William Adama]] refers to the Nebula as "M8", its Messier catalog number.
*In the movie [[Treasure Planet]], the main characters open a portal to distant regions of space. The First One is said to be the Lagoon Nebula, and it is also said to be "halfway across the galaxy."

==[[Messier 78]]==
* M78 is the location of the home of Nadia in ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]''.
* M78 is also the location of the Land of Light, the homeland of [[Ultraman]], [[Ultraseven]], [[Zoffy]] and many other heroes of the ''[[Ultra Series]]''.

==[[Veil Nebula]]==
* The Veil Nebula was the site of the last "unstable planet" visited by the spaceship ''Dark Star'' in the [[Dark Star (film)|film of the same name]].

==[[Orion Nebula]]==
* The Orion Nebula is the special stage in the computer game "Mark Galaxy". In which the main character, Mark, flies around the nebula collecting coins

==[[Trifid Nebula]]==
* The Trifid nebula is frequently seen in [[Beast Wars]] in space scenes throughout the series

{{Astronomical locations in fiction}}

[[Category: Nebulae]]
[[Category: Astronomical locations in fiction]]