nebulosity

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The characteristic of being nebulous; cloudiness (measured in octas).

   “With higher powers the field does not appear to be sufficiently large to allow of each streak of nebulosity being compared with the surrounding parts where the nebulosity is not quite so bright.”

   “If one conceives by analogy all the stars formed in this manner, one can imagine their anterior state of nebulosity itself preceded by other stars in which the nebulous matter was more and more diffuse, the nucleus being less and less luminous and dense.”