According to a news release from the University of New South Whales (UNSW), a team of astronomers has started to map the location of the giant gas clouds in our galaxy — where new stars are birthed.

Utilizing a telescope at Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, the astronomers recognize the galactic clouds of molecular gas from the carbon monoxide they hold.

“On Earth, carbon monoxide is poisonous – a silent killer. But in space, it is the second most abundant molecule and the easiest to see,” notes team leader Michael Burton, a professor at the UNSW School of Physics. “One of the largest unresolved mysteries in galactic astronomy is how these giant, diffuse clouds form in the interstellar medium. This process plays a key role in the cosmic cycle of birth and death of stars.”

Astronomers are using the 22-meter Mopra millimeter wave telescope at Coonabarabran to conduct the carbon monoxide survey of the Southern Milky Way.

The astronomers are also looking for “dark” galactic gas clouds — veiled clouds that hold very little carbon monoxide. It is believed that these clouds are primarily comprised of molecular hydrogen which is too cold to identify.

The astronomers are utilizing telescopes in Antarctica and Chile to look for these dark clouds, based on the existence of carbon atoms, as opposed to carbon molecules in the clouds.

“Taken together, these three surveys will provide us with a picture of the distribution and movement of gas clouds in our galaxy,” Burton posits.

According to the astronomers, dark clouds might also be the “missing” source of gamma rays, which are generated when high-energy cosmic rays interface with the nuclei of gas atoms or molecules they meet when moving through space.

“The source of more than 30 percent of gamma rays remains unidentified – another big mystery our research could throw light on,” Burton adds.

The gravitational collapses of a group of small clouds into a bigger cloud may be one way that large giant molecular clouds form. The random collision of small clouds which then cluster is another possibility.

The study’s findings are described in greater detail in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.