This is the first 3D image of an interstellar cloud

The birthplace of the stars, interstellar clouds, have been determined three-dimensionally for the first time by Aris Tritsis and Konstantinos Tassis of the University of Crete.

This finding could lead to a better understanding of the evolution of interstellar clouds in general, although the work has focused on the cloud of Musca, and may also answer questions such as: what determines the number and type of stars formed in our galaxy?

Musca

Thanks to this work we have now corrected our understanding of Musca. Before we thought it looked more like a pancake than a needle.

The reconstruction of the 3D structure of interstellar clouds has been a great challenge, since astronomical objects can only be observed as two-dimensional projections in the sky.