I'm using a mod OldSpider made to help with this problem, but if I recall correctly Derek or one of the other developers said they'd look into making it an option. I agree with you, that bright background can make it really hard to see things.

Ya +890732187109874531435896714326 /agree

Derek mentioned something on Discord about getting an option to turn off the background nebulas.

I have hated and despised the background since GalCiv 3. I have done countless quits and reloads just trying get a background to come up that would let me SEE the *(#)@&*% screen...

Old Spider posted it on Discord. Perhaps he'll see this and make it available here.

I have some problems with stars showing up in the background and unrevealed map. It makes it look like there are more stars than there really are. I usually start my game by sending my probe ships after stars to find what secrets they have, so fake stars are not helpful.

thanks!