India, March 20 -- Scientists tracing small molecular clouds located near the Milky Way disc have "seen" the skeleton of the magnetic field surrounding them for the first time to better understand its role in star formation.

For decades, astronomers have known that gravity pulls molecular clouds inward to form stars, while internal pressure pushes them outward. But there is a third, silent player in this tug-of-war: the Magnetic Field.L1604 and L121 are small molecular clouds, modest stellar nurseries with L1604 lying toward the Galactic anticenter and L121 toward the crowded Galactic center.

As magnetic fields are invisible, the research team from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) an autonomous institute o...