As Harper begins to exaggerate the Battle of Witchhead and Tyr joining in, he references Captain Teddy Roosevelt. Most of the details may be found in The Naval War of 1812 book written by the late President Theodore Roosevelt.
TV shows often depict nebulae as cloudy, hazy, can't see through them structures. Even a dense nebula is one thousandth of one thousandth of one millionth the density of clear air. Even through a distance of hundreds of miles, nebular gasses and dust would be too thin to see.
As Rommie announces toward the end of the episode, the main action of the show takes place in the year CY 10,087.