Originally "nebula" (Greek for "cloud"; plur. nebulae) was a sort of catch-all name for any extended astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way. This occasionally survives, but the stricter modern term is used for interstellar clouds of dust and gas, which are categorized by how they are illuminated.
Some types of nebula have special names, such as dark nebulae, emission nebulae, planetary nebulae, reflection nebulae, and solar nebulae.
See also:
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