<p>The images of telescopes capturing gas clouds are quite intriguing to me, which keeps me wondering about visibility inside them.</p>
<p>Are there gas clouds in space so dense that we couldn't see out of them if one were to be inside it?</p>
<p>Or are even the densest ones still sufficiently transparent that we could see stars and constellations from the inside?</p>
<p>I'm not asking about dust clouds which can certainly be quite opaque in visible light.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-27T03:01:54.290Z
Dense gas clouds are basically always (except in the very early universe, before the first supernovae) going to have dust, which will dominate the opacity in the optical.
Peter Erwin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-31T13:25:20.260Z
@uhoh Thank you ! It's like you read my mind. It was hard putting the mental images in a sentence that conveys what I thought.
Tokagumo
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-24T02:37:23.980Z
Interesting question! I've adjusted the wording a little bit because someone voted to close for  "needs details or clarity". I think your question about transparency is clear enough now :-) Please feel free to edit further if I haven't gotten it right, and *Welcome to Stack Exchange!*
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-24T12:48:18.510Z
It depends on the opacity, and thus metallicity, of the gas cloud. https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/33752/what-does-the-opacity-of-a-molecular-transition-mean One could compute the opacity for example nebula
Daddy Kropotkin
<gas><hypothetical><visible-light>
Are there gas clouds in space so dense that we couldn't see out of them if one where to be inside it?
Tokagumo
# Are there gas clouds in space so dense that we couldn't see out of them if one where to be inside it?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-05-24)

The images of telescopes capturing gas clouds are quite intriguing to me, which keeps me wondering about visibility inside them.

Are there gas clouds in space so dense that we couldn't see out of them if one were to be inside it?

Or are even the densest ones still sufficiently transparent that we could see stars and constellations from the inside?

I'm not asking about dust clouds which can certainly be quite opaque in visible light.

**Tags:** gas, hypothetical, visible-light

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Interesting question! I've adjusted the wording a little bit because someone voted to close for  "needs details or clarity". I think your question about transparency is clear enough now :-) Please feel free to edit further if I haven't gotten it right, and *Welcome to Stack Exchange!*  
> **username_3**: It depends on the opacity, and thus metallicity, of the gas cloud. https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/33752/what-does-the-opacity-of-a-molecular-transition-mean One could compute the opacity for example nebula  
> **username_1**: Dense gas clouds are basically always (except in the very early universe, before the first supernovae) going to have dust, which will dominate the opacity in the optical.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Thank you ! It's like you read my mind. It was hard putting the mental images in a sentence that conveys what I thought.  

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