This newly discovered cloud is 3,400 times the mass of the Sun—and we almost missed it

Eos may never form stars—but it’s offering a new way to see the invisible parts of our galaxy.

4.5 billion years ago the Sun was formed in a swirling cloud of dust and gas called the Solar Nebula. In a paper published by Nature Astronomy journal on April 28th, a team of internationally collaborating scientists proved that another giant molecular cloud hangs only 300 light-years away—making it the closest cloud to Earth.