question: Does Nebula actually look like that or is it just the camera?
comment: Those pictures are composites from multiple sources that include information from parts of the spectrum that your eye can't see. If you looked with a high-powered telescope they wouldn't look so vibrant. Here's an example of how they created that picture of the Pillars of Creation in your first link. URL_0
passages: In recent years, amateur astronomers have made some notable Cygnus discoveries. The "Soap bubble nebula" (PN G75.5+1.7), near the Crescent nebula, was discovered on a digital image by Dave Jurasevich in 2007. In 2011, Austrian amateur Matthias Kronberger discovered a planetary nebula (Kronberger 61, now nicknamed "The Soccer Ball") on old survey photos, confirmed recently in images by the Gemini Observatory; both of these are likely too faint to be detected by eye in a small amateur scope.
   Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Australian Astronomical Observatory – IC 1340, photograph by David Malin
  
  BULLET::::- spacetelescope.com – "Uncovering the Veil Nebula", with several Hubble Space Telescope photos
  
  BULLET::::- APOD (2010-11-19) – Nebulae in the Northern Cross, showing Veil Nebula to scale in Cygnus
  
  BULLET::::- APOD (2010-09-16) – Photo of the entire Veil Nebula
  
  BULLET::::- APOD (2009-12-01) – NGC 6992: Filaments of the Veil Nebula
  
  BULLET::::- APOD (2003-01-18) – Filaments in the Cygnus Loop
  
  BULLET::::- APOD (1999-07-25) – Shockwaves in the Cygnus Loop (and underlying HST photo)
  
  BULLET::::- Bill Blair (Johns Hopkins University) – Cygnus Loop HST Photo Release
   The nebula has been identified on images taken by Evered Kreimer in October 1966, but not in various other images taken between 1951 and 1991. The nebula appears therefore to be very variable in luminosity, and is a reflection nebula illuminated by a variable star of some kind, or with the star's light being variably obscured for some reason. The nebula was not observed after 2004 until 2008, when it reappeared once more.
  
  Section::::2018 Disappearance.
   "Only recently discovered by amateur astronomer Julian W. McNeil II [Jay McNeil], this peculiar looking object is currently classified as a cometary-type reflection nebula. The newborn nebula was found while processing a wide field image of Orion's Messier 78 nebular region which was taken from McNeil's suburban backyard using a 3-inch refractor. Images taken of the area before September 2003 show absolutely no signs of the nebula nor its ruddy illuminating star, which can be seen near the object's southern apex. Preliminary research by Bo Reipurth (Univ. of Hawaii) reveals that the nebula was created when the deeply imbedded fetal star previously catalogued as IRAS 05436-0007 somehow erupted and went into outburst. The young star's sudden increase in brightness consequently resulted in the surrounding cocoon of gas and dust becoming illuminated much like a lighthouse would light up a foggy harbor. To actually capture such an eruption of a pre-main sequence star so early in its evolution is an extremely rare occurrence. Often regarded as FU Orionis or EX Lupii type events, these sudden outbursts represent a very elusive stage through which most stars are thought to pass as they make final adjustments with their surroundings before settling down and becoming stable objects much like our very own Sun." 
   BULLET::::- "Contact" (1997), film written by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg, and directed by Robert Zemeckis based on the novel by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. This film, the story of SETI researcher Dr. Eleanor Arroway who finds strong evidence of extraterrestrial life and is chosen to make first contact, opens with a famous "zoom out" sequence starting from the Earth that passes a number of iconic astronomical objects and serves to embed our planet in a dazzling cosmic context. One of the featured regions of interstellar space is the stellar nursery pictured in the Pillars of Creation photograph of the Eagle Nebula. Compare the use of the Horsehead Nebula in the film "The Tree of Life" directed by Terrence Malick, below.
   BULLET::::- "The Tree of Life" (2011), film written and directed by Terrence Malick. The three boys of the O'Brien family grow up in suburban Waco, Texas, raised by their nurturing mother and their strict but loving father. Thirty minutes in, the film is interrupted by—or integrated with—a 22-minute segment mystically portraying the birth of the universe, the galaxies, the stars, planets, and finally the development of life on Earth itself. For the "astrophysical" portion of this sequence, Hubble photos were stitched together and high-res images were created and broken down into layers with depth and parallax and gentle camera moves. A prominent image in this montage shows the Horsehead Nebula. Compare the use of the Eagle Nebula in the film "Contact" directed by Robert Zemeckis, above.
   Section::::Real nebulae in fiction.:NGC 2440.
  
  Planetary nebula cataloged as NGC 2440. Its central star, HD62166, is possibly the hottest known white dwarf. The nebula, situated in the Puppis constellation, was discovered in 1790 by William Herschel, who described it as a "beautiful planetary nebula of a considerable degree of brightness, not very well defined." The nebula is located about 4,000 light years from the Sun, has a spectacular appearance and is located in a rich star field.
   BULLET::::- The Derelict (1965-09-22), episode 2 of "Lost in Space". The scenes where the astronauts are stuck outside the space ship, the background space is the Eagle Nebula, centred on the "Pillars of Creation".
   BULLET::::- "Crossroads", Part II (2007), episode of the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" science fiction television series, written by Michael Taylor and Mark Verheiden, and directed by Michael Rymer. Admiral Adama and the Colonial fleet skirmish with a Cylon task force in the Ionian Nebula; during the fight, Lee Adama picks up a mysterious intermittent contact and breaks off to intercept it. The bogey leads him on a vividly depicted chase through the nebula's dust clouds—and the pilot turns out to be the long presumed dead, maverick Viper pilot Kara Thrace. The Ionian Nebula, a supernova remnant rather than a planetary nebula in the Battlestar universe, resembles NGC 2440 and is a similar 4000 light-years from Earth. It is the fourth and last nebula of major importance seen in the series, as a marker on the way home to Earth (see "Home, Part II" set in the Lagoon Nebula, above).
   The Hubble Space Telescope captured several images of the nebula. The analysis of the emissions from the nebula indicate the presence of oxygen, sulfur, and hydrogen. The Cygnus Loop is also a strong emitter of radio waves and x-rays.
  
  On 24 September 2015 new images and videos of the Veil Nebula were released, with an explanation of the images.
  
  Section::::Components.
   BULLET::::- Orion Molecular Cloud Complex
  
  BULLET::::- Orion Nebula in fiction
  
  BULLET::::- Orion OB1 Association
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- "Animated tour of the Orion Nebula", University of South Wales
  
  BULLET::::- Orion Nebula observed by Chandra/HST
  
  BULLET::::- Orion Nebula observed by Gemini Observatory
  
  BULLET::::- Orion Nebula at ESA/Hubble
  
  BULLET::::- Messier 42, SEDS Messier pages and specifically NGC 1976.
  
  BULLET::::- January 2006 Hubble Space Telescope image of the Orion Nebula
  
  BULLET::::- January 2006 Hubble Space Telescope image of the Trapezium cluster
  
  BULLET::::- Orion Nebula M42, Hubble Images
  
  BULLET::::- Remarkable new views captured of Orion Nebula, SpaceFlight Now, 2001.
   The Engraved Hourglass Nebula (also known as MyCn 18) is a young planetary nebula in the southern constellation Musca. It was discovered by Annie Jump Cannon and Margaret W. Mayall during their work on an extended Henry Draper Catalogue (the catalogue was built between 1918 and 1924). At the time, it was designated simply as a small faint planetary nebula. Much improved telescopes and imaging techniques allowed the hourglass shape of the nebula to be discovered by Raghvendra Sahai and John Trauger of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on January 18, 1996. It is conjectured that MyCn 18's hourglass shape is produced by the expansion of a fast stellar wind within a slowly expanding cloud which is denser near its equator than its poles. The vivid colours given off by the nebula are the result of different 'shells' of elements being expelled from the dying star, in this case helium, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon.
   Reflection nebula in the constellation Orion, cataloged as M78 (see graphic). M78 is the brightest of a group of diffuse reflection nebulae that belong to the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from the Earth. M78 is easily found in small telescopes as a hazy patch and involves two stars of 10th magnitude. These two stars, HD 38563A and HD 38563B, are responsible for making the cloud of dust in M78 visible by reflecting their light. About 45 variable stars of the T Tauri type, young stars still in the process of formation, as well as some 17 Herbig–Haro objects are known in this nebula.
   BULLET::::- Nebula is introduced to the franchise in the 2014 "Guardians of the Galaxy". She is sent by Thanos alongside Gamora to assist Ronan the Accuser in acquiring an orb containing the Power Stone. When Ronan learns that he was seeking out an Infinity Stone and betrays Thanos with the intent of using the stone himself to destroy Xandar, Nebula becomes a willing follower when Ronan vowed to kill Thanos once Xandar is destroyed. Nebula is ultimately defeated in combat by Gamora, refusing to be saved by her as she severs her trapped mechanical left hand and escapes Xandar in a Ravager ship.
   Diffuse emission nebula, or H II region, cataloged as "M16". The Eagle Nebula, so named from its supposed resemblance to the iconic raptor (frontal view, wings spread, head bowed), is the location of one of the Hubble Space Telescope's most popular images, the "Pillars of Creation" (see graphic below), which often appear in science fiction film and television. The picture was released by NASA in 1995; within two years (1997) it had already found use in a number of works.
   BULLET::::- The Orion Nebula is the location of the Xenomorph homeworld in the "Alien vs Predator" (1993) video game based on the "Alien" franchise. The game's soundtrack is called the "Orion Nebula Music".
   Section::::Spectrum.
   MAXI conducts a full sky survey every 96 minutes searching for variations in X-ray sources.
  
  MAXI helped discover the rapidly rotating black-hole/star system MAXI J1659-152.
  
  Section::::Discoveries.
  
  MAXI has been in operation for several years and has made several x-ray photos of nebulae and space objects while being stationed on the ISS (International Space Station).
  
  Section::::iWF-MAXI.
   BULLET::::- "Ancient Shores" (1996), novel written by Jack McDevitt. A vitreous domed structure discovered on a Sioux reservation in North Dakota yields startling secrets: Its fiberglass-like substance is composed of the "impossible" superheavy element 161, and more astonishing yet, it functions as a jumpgate connecting the northern prairie to strange distant parts, including an idyllic landscape called "Eden". A struggle for control of the artifact between the tribe and the United States government ensues. Meanwhile, in Eden, on a fairy-tale beach one evening, young airplane pilot Max encounters a strange girl: ""Look." She pointed out over the sea. A thunderhead floated over the horizon, flecked with liquid lightning and countless blue-and-white lights. "I've seen that before," she said. / So had Max. It looked like an oncoming storm, but it had the distinct shape of a chess piece. A knight. / "I think it's the Horsehead Nebula," he said."
   The North America Nebula is large, covering an area of more than four times the size of the full moon; but its surface brightness is low, so normally it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Binoculars and telescopes with large fields of view (approximately 3°) will show it as a foggy patch of light under sufficiently dark skies. However, using a UHC filter, which filters out some unwanted wavelengths of light, it can be seen without magnification under dark skies. Its prominent shape and especially its reddish color (from the hydrogen Hα emission line) show up only in photographs of the area.
   In 1976, photographs from the UK Schmidt Telescope—operated by the Australian Astronomical Observatory—showed several objects resembling comets, located in the Gum Nebula, an emission nebula of the constellation. Due to their particular shape, these objects came to be known as cometary globules. Each globule has a dense, dark, ruptured head and a very long tail, with the latter pointing away from the Vela Supernova Remnant. As a part of the ESO Cosmic Gems program, the European Southern Observatory released an image of in January 2015 showing the head of the nebula.
  
  Section::::Structure.
   BULLET::::- "" (2007), episode #19, season 6 of written by Siobhan Byrne O'Connor and directed by Michael Smith. Goren and Eames investigate the murder of an astronaut in this "ripped from the headlines" take on the infamous escapades of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak—who made a marathon automobile trip across the country (wearing astronaut diapers and never stopping except to refuel) to kidnap a romantic rival. In the show, the space agency is NSA; its headquarters are in New York City, and when the detectives visit they encounter a large interior translight depicting the Horsehead Nebula.
   Even though the nebula has a relatively bright integrated magnitude of 7, it is spread over so large an area that the surface brightness is quite low, so the nebula is notorious among astronomers as being difficult to see. However, an observer can see the nebula clearly in a telescope using an OIII filter (a filter isolating the wavelength of light from doubly ionized oxygen), as almost all light from this nebula is emitted at this wavelength. An telescope equipped with an OIII filter shows the delicate lacework apparent in photographs, and with an OIII filter almost any telescope could conceivably see this nebula. Some argue that it can be seen without any optical aid except an OIII filter held up to the eye.
   The Cotton Candy Nebula is difficult to spot considering it is only 16" long and hardly shines. Michael E. Bakich is an Astronomy senior editor and has studied the Cotton Candy Nebula. He has confirmed that the way to spot the nebula is with the help of a 16" scope. With the help of the IRAS 17150-3224 and the nebulae being in the perfect position where the starlight is blocked, we were able to examine the ring-like structures that "cocoon" the nebula as astronomer Sun Kwok put it. The spherical ring structures around the nebulae are created throughout the red-giant stage which is the ultimate stage in stellar evolution.
   Section::::Quotes.
  
  "The idea that this thing, first seen on my 3-inch telescope, which one can easily hold using one hand, would be observed, within 48 hours, by a telescope of 342 tons was absolutely staggering." Jay McNeil
  
  Section::::Earlier Images.
  