What it looks like inside a nebula from a spaceship?

Question

People love nebulas and all in sci-fi, specially for space battles and all so the background looks more interesting than just black.
But I am wondering, if you are inside a nebula while in a warship, would what it would like?
And more importantly... would it affect the range of what you can see (both visually and with sensors), and would it interfere with laser and similar weapons?

Zeiss Ikon · Answer

Disappointingly, from inside a nebula will look pretty much like "empty" space.  Because it is empty space; most gas nebulae are thinner vacuum than anything that's routinely produced in a lab (including the interiors of particle accelerators, laser cavities, or inside vacuum tubes).
In order to see a nebula as an "object" you need to see through a very large distance of gas denser than the usual interstellar medium, and it needs to be lit by nearby bright stars.  If you're inside the nebula, though, even the starlit gas will be invisible because it will become the "black background" you'd see it against.

What it looks like inside a nebula from a spaceship?

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